


Scales and Velvet

by Castella



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9646406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castella/pseuds/Castella
Summary: Madoka is a princess. Homura is a dragon. They strike up an unlikely friendship.





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> rest in pieces, my "dignity"
> 
> This is from around 2014. Cryfarting on Tumblr is essentially the co-author; he came up with the designs for the dragons (noodles) and brainstormed ideas constantly with me. Some of them made it into mildly finished stories! I was dealing with severe creative block at the time, so many are unfinished - so I'm just posting them unedited here for people to uh, "enjoy", hopefully.

In a faraway kingdom, on a wooded mountain… a young dragon sat by a clear stream.

She looked the same as any other dragon of her kind: a stout nose; long, almost serpentine body (if not for the fur and four legs); forelegs covered in leathery scales; and two small, pronged horns. Overall, she was a typical juvenile Eastern dragon.

The only things that particularly stood out were her soft lavender coat, with a diamond of white fur cutting across her stomach; the violet, diamond-shaped gem set in her forehead; and perhaps a slightly nervous disposition.

The young dragon, Homura — was on one of her first outings without her parents, and was attempting to fish.

She peered closely at the water, brow knitted in concentration and a small frown on her face.

Finally, she saw a flash of motion and a shimmer of scales beneath the surface of the water.

Attempting a battle cry — it came out more of a peep — Homura lunges forward with her whole body.

The fish hears her and startles, darting away and out of her reach. Both forepaws come down heavily where the fish used to be. With a small wail, Homura loses her balance, tipping and falling in the stream with a splash.

This had been the fifth or sixth attempt; she'd been out there for two hours, already. Homura groans and picks herself up out of the water, shaking the water from her fur as she settled back on the bank.

<…I'm no good at this.> Homura mumbles to herself; to anyone but a dragon's ears, it would sound like a small grumble. <Maybe I should ask Mom to show me how, again…>

Then again, she didn't want to pester her parents. Even if she was only six, that was the age dragons were expected to start to be independent, and begin to hunt on their own. She _wanted_ to show them she could do it by herself, but… it wasn't working out.

Homura's stomach groans, reminding her of the reason she had gone out to begin with. _"I'll catch my own lunch today!",_ she had proudly said. The look her parents shared at the time was probably because they knew she couldn't do it, Homura thought…

As much as she hated to return home feeling like a disappointment, the thought of warmth out of the brisk air and something to eat was too appealing.

So, Homura headed for the cave where her family lived.

 

* * *

 

The walk home was oddly quiet — usually the trees were full of singing birds, and deer and boar (smaller than Homura, mostly) picking through the brush. Today, there was nothing.

Homura didn't think much of it until she got closer to home.

Once a few yards from the entrance, the unexpected sound of her parents snarling and growling made Homura freeze. Listening closer, she flinched when the sounds didn't stop but just got _worse_ , instead.

She thought she heard her dad yelling— she couldn't quite make out the words, but he sounded… angry, and afraid. Her mom's voice was quieter, but it almost sounded like she was crying…

<M-Mom?… Dad?…> Homura called out timidly. They didn't respond, the noises of a vague struggle the only sound to carry outside the cave.

Homura squirmed, feeling worry and fear creep into her system as she entered the cave.

What she saw was her parents, as well as a group of adult people — humans.

Homura had seen people before; traveling through the mountainside, they usually kept their distance, but… These were not the same as those people.

They raised weapons against her parents, yelling in loud voices.

Her parents were fighting back — but despite being larger, their size was a disadvantage in the closed space. They were outnumbered, too. They yelled desperately back and forth; tones of stress and rage and fear she had never heard from them before.

Homura's dad turned, bellowing at her mom, who sat crumpled on the ground nearby.

<You have to _get up_! > He said fiercely, snarling out of stress and anger. <They're going to kill _you_ , too, if you don't—>

Her mother shook, her head hanging despondently. She looked like she was covering something small with her body; her back was riddled with arrows for that sake. <I…>

Homura stares, trying to comprehend what was happening. She stood there, unable to move out of fear.

<Dad?… Mom?> Homura whimpers.

No one had noticed her since she walked in, but in that moment both of her parents looked up. They looked shocked and terrified all at once; a far cry from their usual reaction.

<Homura?> Her mother said, in a tiny voice; she looked stunned to even see her. <You're still—>

Barely a moment after she said that, her expression changed from blank shock to a fierce snarl; hackles raising, her head snapping towards their attackers. She rose despite her injury, and threw herself towards them.

< _Hey!— > _Homura's dad started to yell, panicked by her sudden, reckless action. His mate didn't look back from her fight of taking on half the people there by herself.

<Make her leave, _now_! > She yelled; her fierce command quickly crumbled into anguish. <I can't… lose Homura, too…>

Homura was overrun with an urge to be with her parents — despite the situation, they would always be symbols of safety and protection to her as a child.

She started to go towards them — but her dad swings his tail, knocking her back slightly. She whimpers as it catches her, stumbling backwards. She was still on her feet; the gesture hurt more than the act itself. Homura barely had time to wonder why, or what she had done wrong…

<Leave, now!> Homura's dad barks at her. She just stares back, eyes wide.

"Hey!" One of the men yells sharply. Homura jumps at the voice, and sees he's pointing right at her. "There's the other one!"

" _Shit_ — how did we miss it?"

"Who cares? As long as we skin it, it doesn't matter!"

Homura, perhaps unfortunately, understood — right down to the last part. Fear choked her, and she couldn't move, even as three men approached with a clear intent to _kill_ her.

Until her dad moved between the men and his daughter, shooting small bursts of flame from his mouth to ward them off — he was already too exhausted to attempt more, and is quickly on the end of a losing battle.

With a glance in her direction, Homura sees her mom is faring no better. She looks between her parents, whining in distress.

< _Homura— > _The anger and volume in her dad's voice, raising to a roar, shakes her. _ <_I said to _get out! > _

Homura hesitates for only a moment longer.

She runs.

The adrenaline surging in her veins carries her further than her slightly-frail body usually would. It's some time before she stops; all but crashing in the underbrush, wheezing and panting.

Even if Homura was far from the danger at this point, she can't get the sights and sounds of the experience out of her mind. Everything is violence and anger and noise. Her heart pounds mercilessly in her ears.

_My brother and sister, and… Mom and Dad are probably, already…_

With the thought of her family, an anguished wail bubbles out of her throat; one she had been holding back for some time.

The young dragon crumples to the ground, and cries herself into an exhausted slumber.

 

* * *

 

In a faraway kingdom in the mountains, inside it's castle's library… a young girl sits by herself.

The ornate, overstuffed chair she's sitting in is too big for her; her legs dangle off the floor, moving the fabric of her long dress with every errant kick.

She uses a finger to push her hair — pink, spilling down her back, and uncharacteristically out of its trademark pigtails — out of her face. (Maybe she _should_ put it back up, since it keeps getting in the way.)

The only daughter of the royalty, Madoka — was reading a storybook.

She peers at the heavy book sitting in her lap, pink eyes blinking slowly as they took in the words and corresponding illustrations.

Being just six years old, she was only just starting to get the hang of reading; pulling her finger along the page as a guide, sounding words out loud.

" _The dragon… attacked the… village._ " Madoka reads, slowly. When she actually registers what it said, her voice cracks in a whimper, reeling back slightly from the page. "A-attacked? That's scary…"

Below was an illustration of the passage; a dragon breathing fire, razing houses to the ground. She grimaces, trying to flip through the next few pages to avoid any scary parts — only to run into a somewhat graphic illustration of the same dragon being slain by the protagonist.

Madoka promptly shrieks, slamming the book shut.

After escaping the 'danger' of having to see something she deemed too scary, she remembers the danger of upsetting the other people in the library — mostly, adults that were working doing research for her parents. They _were_ giving her some looks.

Madoka squeaked an embarrassed apology under her breath and slipped down from the chair.

"Princess?"

Madoka jumps at the formal address. She turns to sheepishly face what she assumed to be a scolding.

The librarian smiled back fondly. "I think Her Majesty will be out of her meeting by now."

Madoka gave him a blank look, realizing she wasn't being scolded. "O-oh. Right!" She burst into a smile, adding: "Thank you!"

He smiles back, but his face falls as he realizes Madoka is off at a run. (Did she really need to run everywhere? She already tripped quite a lot…)

 

* * *

 

A few minutes later, Madoka had run over to the council hall where her parents held their meetings. She didn't know much about them, other than that they were important (said her parents), and frequent.

Madoka spotted her mother outside the hall; she promptly ran over and tackled her around the waist in a hug.

"Hi, Mama!" Madoka greets cheerfully, staring up.

"Oh, if it isn't Madoka!" Junko says jestingly.

Junko reaches down, picking up her daughter so she could see her better. Madoka giggles, bobbing her legs softly from where she was being held.

"What have you been up to today?" Junko asks.

"Reading in the library!" is Madoka's enthusiastic reply.

"Oh, that's good, isn't it!" Junko's smile turns sly at the opportunity to lightly tease her daughter. "Are you practicing hard at your reading?"

Madoka looks down, fumbling bashfully. "I-I'm still having some trouble…"

Junko chuckles and tousles her hair a little; Madoka stifles a squeak. "As long as you're working to improve, you'll be fine."

Someone calls out to Junko from the door of the meeting hall.

"Your Highness, His Majesty was just asking for you…"

Junko looks over, sighing. "…I'll be there in a minute." Madoka peeks over shyly before looking up at her mother again.

"You have to work?…" Madoka asks.

"Mm… that's right." Junko gives her a wan smile, sighing a little. "I left your Papa in the meeting for a bit, but it seems they need both of us, since it's a delicate issue…"

Looking back at Madoka, she saw the details were going over her head a bit. Junko gives her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry both your Mama and Papa have to work so much, dear."

"I-it's okay," Madoka said. Despite that, she still clings to the fabric of Junko's dress for a moment, disheartened. Junko gives Madoka peck on the crown of her head before setting her back on the floor.

"Oh…" Junko feigns having remembered something, adding teasingly: " _Somebody_ was looking to play with you out in the courtyard."

Madoka stares at her for a moment, not immediately grasping who she was implying.

"Somebody…" The lightbulb went off. "Sayaka-chan?"

"Mhmm." Junko smiles, taking a second to smooth Madoka's long hair into place. "Why don't you go find her?"

Madoka smiles brightly, her attention turned towards the prospect of playing with her friend. "Okay!"

She runs down the hall a little ways before turning, waving to Junko. "Mama, I'll see you later!"

Junko waves back. "See you later, Madoka."

Watching Madoka disappear down the hallway, Junko's genuine smile fell to a tired one. It wasn't much of a break, and now back to work again…

 

* * *

 

Madoka runs outside of the castle, to a courtyard where she and Sayaka usually met. It was bustling with activity, a hub of various people going about their jobs around the castle.

It wasn't far from where Sayaka's parents worked, so she could usually be found there, and her mom _had_ said she would be there… but she wasn't. Madoka frowns, nervously trying to keep out of the adults' way.

"Maybe she's not coming…" Madoka mumbled.

Of course Sayaka chose that particular moment to jump out and scream. Madoka made an embarrassingly loud scream to match. The other people in the courtyard stopped for barely a moment; before realizing it was just the Princess and her best friend messing around, again.

"S-Sayaka-chan!" Madoka squeaks out. "You scared me…"

Sayaka — a girl Madoka's age, with a taller, more athletic build — grins back at the accusation, laughing cheekily.

"Sorry, sorry." Sayaka said. "Oh, but hey! Check it out!"

Madoka peers at her curiously as Sayaka pulls a long, thin twig out of the belt loop of her shorts. It was clearly meant to be treated as a scabbard, and the stick (which was liberated from the ground) as a sword.

Sayaka verbally provides her own dramatic fanfare, posing with the twig proudly. "So? What do you think?"

"Umm… it's a very nice… stick?" Madoka offers. Sayaka all but explodes with a frustrated shout.

"It's not a _stick_!" Sayaka argues — seeing Madoka's eyes move down to nervously verify that it was still a stick, she clarifies: "It's a sword! You know, like the knights have!"

"Oh!" Madoka said. She nods, seeing it now. "Right."

"And I'm gonna be a knight too," Sayaka said, smiling confidently. She puts her hands on her hips and nods to herself. "I'll beat bad guys, and be a hero of justice!"

"That sounds dangerous, Sayaka-chan…" Madoka chides.

That is, rushing in to fight things with a stick was dangerous.

Sayaka stops in the middle of waving the twig-sword around, accompanied with swooshing sound effects, and turns back towards Madoka. (She almost accidentally whacks her with the stick while doing so.)

"Don't worry! It's a knight's job to protect the princess. So I'll protect you, Madoka!" Sayaka said, beaming proudly.

Madoka was a little embarrassed by that statement, and she didn't really know of anything that she would need to be protected _from_. But she smiles faintly anyway, reassured. "O-okay."

"Now, Princess—" Sayaka said; grinning when Madoka whined over the use of the title to tease her with. "Where would you like to go?"

 

* * *

 

Homura ran.

…But at this point, she had almost been running for days; stumbling around from one place to the next, searching for food and shelter and an escape from danger.

She had managed to feed herself a little, but restless sleep out of the protection of her family's cave was beginning to take its toll. She was stressed, exhausted, and miserable.

Homura hadn't doubled back around to go back and see if her family was there at the cave, after all. She worried what she might find. Or not find, even; somehow the thought of her home being entirely empty was almost worse than… the alternative.

She whimpers a little to herself with the thought.

Without noticing where she was really going, Homura wandered towards a place that smelled of fragrant flowers…

 

* * *

 

Madoka and Sayaka went to play in the gardens — specifically, a little clearing of grass, lined by hedges. It was out by where the garden turned to overgrown woods, and didn't see the constant maintenance the rest of the gardens did. It meant they could run around unsupervised, most of the time; which their parents allowed under the pretense that the kingdom was safe, anyway.

They were almost winding down from their game when they heard a rustling, off in the bushes.

They girls stared at it, and the motion stopped.

Sayaka looked at Madoka curiously. "What was that?"

"I don't know…" Madoka said; or started to, before a small, high-pitched _noise_ came from those same bushes, in response to their voices. Madoka echoed a similar fearful squeak, hopping to her feet to hide behind Sayaka.

"S-Sayaka-chan, don't try to scare me again…" Madoka said, whining slightly.

"Huh?" Sayaka said, peering at Madoka over her shoulder with a small, baffled laugh. "How would I be doing that when I'm over here?"

"I don't know! It just seems like something you would do!"

At their continued voices, another noise — a small, trembling whine — punctuated the rustling bushes. Even with them standing, they were too tall to see over; but they'd be able to walk through them easily.

Sayaka frowns. "Let's see what it is!"

Madoka makes a dismayed noise — she would have been happy leaving it alone. But she follows Sayaka closely as she moves towards the bushes, since being left alone was slightly more scary. She hangs on to Sayaka's back, standing almost on tip-toe to see over her shoulder.

"M-maybe it's a dog," Madoka suggests; at the height the bushes were moving around, it was possible. "Or a deer, and it's sick, or hurt or something…"

"One way to find out, huh?" Sayaka said. She shoots Madoka a confident grin before peeling the bushes aside.

Well, it wasn't a dog. What flinched at the sudden light and noise and stared up at them was something Madoka had only seen in books heard stories about.

"…a dragon?" Madoka said quietly.

The dragon, none other than Homura — whined in fear.

In terms of appearance, the dragon was similar to what Madoka had read, and seen illustrated — but in demeanor, she couldn't be further from that.

Homura recoiled as soon as they appeared, pressing her back against a nearby tree and cowering there. The small whine she had been making fell to a small, trembling whimper.

Madoka frowns, feeling her fear and anxiety shift towards concern; the dragon seemed much more scared of her than she was of it, to the point that she started to feel sorry for it…

"A dragon?!" Sayaka shouts. Madoka jumps a bit at her delayed reaction; Sayaka was not expecting to see that at all, she guessed.

Sayaka's raised voice makes Homura recoil even further, pressing her body to the tree trunk and attempting to make herself as small as possible.

Not that the girls had any way of knowing, but it was a little too similar to what she had just experienced.

"S-Sayaka-chan, wait—" Madoka tries to say. Sayaka shakes out of her loose grip, pushing through the bushes.

"Don't worry, Madoka! I'll protect you!" Sayaka said, echoing her earlier comment.

Either quashing down her own fears, or being valiant for the sake of being knightly, Sayaka pulls out her sword and slays the dragon.

That is: she hit her on the head with a twig.

Truthfully, even if Sayaka had been an especially strong six-year old, she wouldn't have been able to do any serious damage with her 'weapon' of choice.

Despite that, it still startled Homura, and still stung to be caught across the face with a stick. She yelped on impact, moving her slightly stubby forepaws to cover her face, rubbing the injury and blinking back tears with a faint whine.

The sudden violence has Madoka grabbing at Sayaka's sleeve in a feeble attempt to hold her back. _"Sayaka-chan!"_

Sayaka frowns, ignoring Madoka as she tries to bring the stick down in another strike. Madoka tugging on her arm, paired with a child's coordination causes Sayaka to miss, clipping the ground right next to the dragon. Homura yelps in surprise, moving tensely to her feet and watching Sayaka nervously.

"Hey— hold still!" Sayaka said crossly, trying to hit her again — and once more missing as Homura moved clumsily to the side.

Sayaka chased her in a series of attempts and dodges. It culminated in Homura fleeing the bushes and running into the clearing, whining faintly the whole time. Sayaka followed, chopping wildly at the ground in an attempt to hit her while hollering in a rowdy but un-intimidating battle cry.

Madoka tumbled out of the bushes after them, attempting to get a word in edgewise from the sidelines of the attempted fight that was mostly chasing.

"S-Sayaka-chan, please stop it!" Madoka said feebly. Sayaka either doesn't hear her, or ignores it.

Madoka frowns — if Sayaka wasn't going to listen to her, then…

When Homura darted past, Madoka stepped in between her and where Sayaka would soon be. Her expression was a small, determined pout, her arms held out what, at best, would be a symbolic gesture of getting Sayaka to stop.

Well, it worked — but mostly because Sayaka wasn't able to suddenly stop running, and just ran into Madoka. They toppled over, both yelping.

Homura stops nearby when it noticed they had fallen, and that she wasn't being chased. She had been running around aimlessly, too panicked to find a real escape route; but now she breathed heavily and trembled on her feet, too tired to keep running.

" _Oww_ … Madoka, what are you _doing_?" Sayaka groans, trying to rub her head and get to her feet at the same time.

"Sayaka-chan…" Madoka said, grabbing Sayaka's arm as she unsteadily pulled herself up. "Don't hit it! It's not doing anything…"

"Wh— Madoka, it's a _dragon_!" Sayaka argues, baffled. "That's what I'm _supposed_ to do!"

"I feel bad for it! It—" Madoka said, hesitating as she peers over at the Homura, who was still quivering in fear. "—s-she looks really afraid, so… Don't be so mean…"

" _'She'_ —" Sayaka said. "You don't know if it's a girl, Madoka!"

"Y-you don't know either, Sayaka-chan!" Madoka argues back, frowning. "S-she could be a girl… I mean, her fur is purple…"

"That's a _dumb reason_ , Madoka, but **it** is not a girl—"

As they continued bickering about whether the dragon was a girl or not — she was, of course, but Madoka had only gotten lucky — Homura herself looked around for any sense of safety in the clearing, grimacing in anxiety when it felt like everything spelled danger. Even leaving could mean running into more people, like Sayaka, or…

Short of running away, which she was too exhausted to manage, Homura goes with the safest option she could muster. Which meant lightly bumping her head into the skirt of Madoka's dress in a vague attempt to hide there.

Feeling the dragon tap her, Madoka peeks back curiously. Sayaka follows her gaze and shouts once she notices Homura there.

"Aah! See, it's trying to sneak up on you, Madoka!"

<I w-wasn't…> Homura peeps, shrinking at the accusation. She was talking really more to herself, than anyone, since neither Madoka or Sayaka could understand her.

"She is not, Sayaka-chan!" Madoka said heatedly — seeing Sayaka reach for her twig to start swatting at Homura again, Madoka crosses her arms with a fierce pout. The effect was more cute than menacing, especially with the way her voice trembled when she spoke again.

"I-if you try to hit her again, you'll have to hit me, t-too!" Madoka said, attempting a firm tone.

That much makes Sayaka pause, grimacing — it was directly in conflict with her knightly role! That, and Madoka was her friend; Sayaka didn't want to hit her at all.

…Also, if she hit the Princess, she would definitely get in trouble. From her own mother. Sayaka didn't relish the thought of getting grounded for a month.

Unfortunately, Madoka could be stubborn at times like this — she continued pouting, only letting up once Sayaka reluctantly replaced the twig at her belt loop, groaning the whole time to show she really, _really_ didn't want to.

"Thank you, Sayaka-chan." Madoka said, smiling. Sayaka rolls her eyes.

Madoka turns, squatting on the ground to be closer to eye-level with Homura — who still jumped fearfully at every sudden movement, but looks up at her timidly. Madoka tips her head, smiling.

"It's okay now," Madoka said, cheery and soothing. "Sayaka-chan's not going to hit you anymore. Okay?"

Sayaka grumbles from several feet away, her arms crossed in irritation over being painted as some kind of bully. Homura just blinks up at Madoka, whining anxiously.

"I'm Kaname Madoka… But you can call me Madoka, okay?"

Sayaka just about scoffs nearby, not voicing that she thought it was ridiculous for Madoka to introduce herself, and offer Homura to use her given name, when she knew Homura couldn't speak.

Well, not in a way Madoka could understand, anyway.

<Mado…ka?> Homura repeats slowly. Madoka would hear it was a few nervous, trembling peeps.

Madoka smiles sympathetically at Homura's continued nervous gestures, and moves to pet her. "It's okay."

Homura flinches bodily once again, shutting her eyes tight like she expected to be hurt.But after a moment of not feeling Madoka's hand come down, she opens her eyes again to see it still hanging in the air, Madoka waiting for Homura to allow her, first.

Granted, it was something Madoka had learned petting dogs and cats, after walking away with one too many scratches from being over-eager; but it worked surprisingly well there. Homura blinked at her, and very slowly pushed her nose into Madoka's hand, experimentally; after she touched her hand the first time, Homura pulled her head back to regain her personal space a bit. Madoka giggled softly.

Madoka moved her hand slowly from there, petting at the soft, leathery texture of the dragon's nose before moving to the rest of her face. Homura just blinked at her, looking a little anxious at the touch as Madoka rubbed her the soft fur of her cheek.

"Wah…" Madoka said softly, her eyes going wide. "She's really soft…"

It was true; the dragon's downy coat was softer than any other fur or material Madoka had touched before. Unable to resist, Madoka adds her other hand to Homura's other cheek, moving her hands around the dragon's jaw, and up to the small ears, almost hidden beneath her two pronged horns. Homura was still tense, but she shook slightly less as Madoka continued petting her.

"Hmm…" Madoka smiled, turning to Sayaka as she continued petting Homura. "You pet her too, Sayaka-chan!"

Sayaka frowned, her arms crossed; her playdate with Madoka had turned into Madoka getting angry with her, and then spending all her attention on some stupid dragon. There was not a chance in the world she was going to go along with that.

" _Nooo_ way!" Sayaka said, punctuating her refusal by sticking her tongue out.

"Aww…"

Madoka looks disheartened, looking back at Homura sadly. Homura had been giving a wary sideways glance toward Sayaka, but looked over when Madoka did, eying her nervously.

"Why not… when she's so sweet." Madoka whines quietly, before adding: "See, look."

To demonstrate her point, Madoka tosses her arms around the dragon's neck in a hug. Homura blinks wildly at the sudden and novel contact, tensing even more than before with a tiny, uncomfortable whine. Madoka didn't notice — more out of a self-centered desire than maliciousness, but lets go after a moment.

Madoka giggles, looking again at her best friend for approval. "See! Isn't she cute?"

"I don't know about ' _cute_ '…" Sayaka said, eying Homura with suspicion and biting down a comment about her being _dangerous_ , instead.

"She _is_ cute!" Madoka said, arguing back, but playfully this time. She turns to Homura, smiling. "Right?"

The dragon blinks quickly at the word — she certainly understood them well enough to be embarrassed by being called 'cute', much less having it debated… Madoka smiling and humming happily to herself as she kept petting her was not helping with her being flustered, either. She frowns, whining a little anxiously as her fur puffs out, standing on end thanks to her slightly agitated state.

Madoka notices right away, and seems delighted by it, ruffling the puffed-out fur on the dragon's shoulders.

"Eheh— you're getting all puffed up! See, Sayaka-chan, she's cute like I said!"

Of course, that only makes the flustered part worse, which made her fur more puffed out, and thus cuter. They proceeded in such a fashion to an infinite feedback loop.

Sayaka can only groan.

 

* * *

 

"Your Highness, may I have a moment?…"

Junko looks up from her work, giving the messenger asking her this question a withering look. She was clearly already busy — the papers weighing down the table before her could almost crack it in two — and she had a fairly strict _"don't interrupt me"_ policy. (The same one that had already been broken right in the middle of her time with her daughter.)

The messenger seems to realize this, even if it's belatedly, and adds: "…I believe it's urgent, Your Highness."

Junko sighs; catches the eyes of the nearby council members still hovering around and waves them off. "Go ahead."

"We just got word from some of our scouts that a group of dragons were killed. Since a bounty hadn't been put on the dragons, and their remains were… _scavenged_ of valuable parts, they were almost certainly killed by poachers. Since all known poaching groups in the kingdom have been penalized… it's likely they're from another kingdom."

Junko remains silent for a moment, taking the information in.

"…When?"

"We only have a rough estimate, but… probably two days ago, Your Highness."

Junko sighs in aggravation. "Then they've definitely had time to get across the border."

The messenger stays silent; she was right. Junko taps her finger on the surface of the table for a moment, before standing from her chair and moving to exit the room.

"Your Highness?…"

Junko looks over cooly and begins giving orders. "Have Tomohisa start with tightening security around the castle… have someone out to arrest the poachers on the _hope_ they're just _stupid_ … and if it hasn't been done already, someone to pick the dragon corpse up out of the damn woods."

"O-of course, Your Highness." The messenger looks upward as they commit this all to memory; at least the King was slightly less brusque. "W-where are you going?"

Junko just gives them a sharp smile.

"I'm going on my break now."

* * *

 

 

Junko decided to spend her break — the impromptu one the council one would surely try to give her hell for when she returned — around her daughter, to make up for before.

Imagine her surprise when she found Madoka cuddling a dragon the size of a German shepherd.

Seeing the clearing from a distance, it honestly _seemed_ like a large dog (light purple fur aside) — which had vaguely prepped Junko for another exasperated _"no, you can not bring this stray animal home"_ talk.

"Ah!" Sayaka yelled — noticing her first and pointing at her directly. "It's Madoka's mom!"

Homura jolts at the noise, but flinches hard once she sees Junko approaching. Whining, she moves out of Madoka's grip (where she was still being petted) and just about cowers behind her.

The action is strange enough that Junko is very, very unsure of how to react.

"Girls?" Junko points at Homura, hoping vaguely that long work hours are affecting her eyesight. "…What do you have there?"

"U—um…" Madoka stammered. Being taught not to lie, if she got stuck in a situation where telling the truth was too difficult, she tried stalling. It was amazingly transparent. "Um, y-you _see_ —"

Sayaka ran over to Junko's side, tugging on her sleeve and pointing back at Madoka accusingly.

"Madoka's mom, Madoka was playing with a _dragon_." She huffs, adding grumpily: "She wouldn't let me hit it."

"Ah." Junko said, a weak smile on her face. The situation was suddenly made clear.

Madoka wails in dismay at being tattled on. "S- _Sayaka-chan_! Why'd you tell?!"

Junko's gaze moves down to the dragon, wondering if Madoka would feel quite so betrayed if she knew it had never been a secret whatsoever. At the raised voices, Homura starts trembling and whining in a panic.

"Ah— i-it's okay!" Madoka said, starting to try and comfort Homura. It seemed like the excessive petting was actually making her _more_ upset, but Madoka didn't realize, since it had (sort of) worked before. Homura's whine turned to a low, pitiful wail.

"It's just my mom! She's nice! D-don't cry, it's okay…"

Junko left the still-pouting Sayaka and walked to Madoka's side, sitting beside her with a skeptical look.

It seemed that Madoka was trying to calm Homura down through squeezing her in tight hugs and aggressively petting her.

Homura looked over, nervously catching Junko's eye. Junko had seen that look on the faces of various animals being harassed by Madoka. Honestly, Junko was starting to pity the poor thing, even if she wanted her away from Madoka for her own safety.

"Um, Madoka…" Junko starts.

"Mama… I feel bad for her, and— look, see how nice she is!" To prove her point, Madoka hugs Homura around the stomach, either ignoring or not noticing the terrified whine that came out of her throat. "S-see? She's not bad!"

"…That's nice, Madoka." Junko gives her a small, exasperated smile. "…Could you put her down, please."

Madoka hadn't quite managed to pick Homura up yet despite her efforts, but she did as her mother asked. Homura breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

"Can we keep her?" Madoka asked, her eyes pleading and sympathetic.

Junko knew that one was coming from a mile away. The answer was obvious, too.

"No." Junko said firmly.

" _Whyyy_?" Madoka practically wails, looking dismayed. Homura flinches at the loud cry.

"Madoka… I know she's very nice to you, but she is a _dragon_. She is never going to be completely tame. She's going to get much, much bigger, too. Even if it's not on purpose, you could end up hurt."

Madoka takes this calm and steady explanation in with a sad pout; she clearly didn't want to hear it. "But…"

Junko sighs softly.

"There's also thinking about it from her point of view, sweetheart. There are things she wouldn't be able to learn if you kept her. How to take care of herself, and live in the wild… if you took her in now, she would never learn those skills. You would be hurting her, more than helping."

Madoka hangs her head, seeming to consider that.

Junko paused, considering the young dragon's approximate age. "Besides, she's still young… she should be with her family. Being separated from your Mama and Papa would be too hard, wouldn't it?"

Madoka blanches; _that_ much hit close to home. "It would…"

Homura had been peering at Junko for a while, blinking and watching slowly like she was listening. (But she couldn't understand Junko, right?) But at the statement referring her family, she withdraws, shrinking and whimpering into Madoka's back. Madoka turned to try and soothe her again.

Junko watched them for a few moments more — Madoka smoothing out the dragon's fur a little more gently, this time — before standing, stooping slightly and picking Madoka up in a smooth motion.

"Wah— _Mama_!" Madoka cries, surprised and then dismayed once she realized she was being picked up.

"Madoka, it's best for everyone if she goes back home." Junko looks down at Homura, trembling and whining anxiously, unsure of where to go. "Why don't you say goodbye, now."

Madoka looked on the verge of tears — the situation didn't seem fair to her at all.

"I d-don't wanna," she said, sniffling and rubbing her eyes with her fists as she started to cry.

Sayaka looked down from nearby, guilt etched onto her face; she had never wanted Madoka to get upset like that. Junko gave her a small sympathetic look — she was about to have _three_ crying children on her hands. She sets Madoka down on her feet.

Junko crossed the clearing, pushing aside the brush to reveal a thin deer trail.

"If she leaves this way, she'll be able to get back to the forest without running into anyone." Junko said — addressing Madoka to comfort her, mostly, but she gives a sideways glance to see if Homura was listening.

She looked as scared as ever, but did perk up slightly at the directions, shifting slightly toward the exit that had been presented to her.

Madoka suddenly tackling Homura in a hug wasn't enough to knock her over, but she did almost tip. Junko nearly thought she would bolt, but she froze on the spot.

"I d-don't wanna say bye…" Madoka said, her voice still trembling from crying. "I'll just say 'see you later', okay?"

Homura just blinked in Madoka's arms, frowning and shifting her paws in a nervous gesture.

Junko smiles wanly; it was unlikely they would really meet again, but there was no harm in letting Madoka hope for it a little bit. Eventually she'd forget about it, move on to other friends. Human ones.

Sayaka walked over, pouting. Arms crossed, she pointed one finger at the dragon. "If it comes back here, I'm gonna kick it's butt."

Homura makes a faint, nervous whine at that statement. Madoka lets go to scold Sayaka.

"No you're _not_ , Sayaka-chan."

"Am too!"

"Are _not!"_

"O-kay, girls…" Junko said, smiling in slight exasperation and clapping her hands lightly. Best to diffuse them before it turned into another small fight between them. "Time to go."

It didn't take prying Madoka off, this time; Junko pressed a hand on her shoulder, and after a moment she released the dragon entirely. Homura shrinks a little.

It took a bit of gentle shooing from Junko to encourage her to go, but even then Homura hesitated. But after staring at them for a moment — her gaze staying on Madoka the longest — she did leave, jumping back into the brush and disappearing from sight.

Madoka looked crestfallen, of course; she felt like she had made a friend and then been forced to lose it. She sniffled faintly from when she had been crying before.

Sayaka watched Madoka for a moment, before reaching to hold her hand. 

"Don't cry, Madoka, okay?" Sayaka said.

"I w-wasn't crying," Madoka mumbles, but having it pointed out only makes her more emotional. Sniffling hard and starting to tear up again, she used her free hand to roughly wipe at her eyes and nose.

Madoka would cry for a bit the remainder of the day, but Sayaka would hold her hand to comfort her, and her parents would give her lots of hugs, so she was okay.

 

* * *

Not far from there, Homura picked through the woods, finding her way on the well-beaten path without too much trouble, even with her feet dragging.

For what would not be the first or last time, she paused, glancing over her shoulder to where the castle sat.

…It was true, what Madoka's mother had said; Homura didn't really belong there. She wasn't really _trying_ to belong there, so much as to escape from danger.

And although she felt like her place was with her family, that… wasn't an option for her anymore, either. The thought of it makes emotion rise in her throat, threatening to overwhelm her again with fear and despair.

The only thing Homura could really do was become self-reliant, and survive. Otherwise, what her parents did… would have been for a waste.

A tiny part of her didn't want to waste Madoka's sincere sentiment, either.

Homura blinks faintly; tiredness and hunger are still at the forefront of her attention. That meant getting food, and shelter… Even if she wasn't very good at it, she had been taught by her parents.

Both of them would live, until the time they met again.


	2. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madoka gets lost in the woods. Homura reunites with her first and only friend. Sayaka is very stressed.

Madoka had only meant to run off a _little_ bit, really. A few minutes of genuine freedom and independence. A tiny little walk to watch wild bunnies.

Unfortunately, Madoka wandering off caused the perfect storm for her getting lost: the dense, pathless forest was devoid of real landmarks, making it easy to get lost in. On top of that, the sheltered princess' sense of direction was untrained, and she had never been given the advice to _stay where she was_ if separated from someone — since she had never been in such a situation.

Wandering around the mountain looking for Sayaka had only resulted in legs heavy and aching from the walk, a throat sore from calling for her, and the late autumn sun dipping even further over the hills.

Madoka whines quietly, worried over what would happen if she didn't find Sayaka before dark, and pushes herself to keep walking and find her.

 

* * *

 

Madoka stops when she finds an unusual feature: a cave hewn out of the mountainside.

In the waning daylight, it was too dark to see inside. The maw of the cave looms at her threateningly; Madoka's imagination was running wild, thinking what could live inside.

…Well, Sayaka was almost definitely not there, so it was best to move on.

But something outside the cave's entrance catches her eye; an inscription in the rock, several feet above her height. It’s written in characters she recognized, but it almost looked like it had been carved in with a short knife. Madoka could read it just fine, if she squinted.

"Akemi… Homura?"

After reading it aloud, Madoka pauses, frowning: that sounded like a name, but who would write their name outside of a cave, a good three meters in the air, carved in sandstone? Did someone _live_ there, or was it just a random mark of ownership? If there was someone, maybe they could help her find Sayaka?

…Maybe not. She didn't know how an interaction with someone living in the woods would go. Nor was she very keen to find out, but she _was_ getting desperate.

Madoka blinks as she feels a droplet of water hit her, then another — it had started raining.

"Eh— why?!" Madoka cries in dismay. The drizzle turns to a downpour in just moments; Madoka stands around indecisively, whining feebly as her clothes and hair started to get soaked.

Taking her chances, Madoka runs for cover inside the shelter of the cave. She gives a final look outside, feeling guilty that Sayaka was probably stuck outside in the rain, right now. She would have to make it up to her when they found each other.

Madoka could hear a faint crackle of fire from deeper inside the cave. Maybe someone really did live there, after all.

"S-sorry for the intrusion…" Madoka calls faintly, proceeding inside slowly. "…Hello?"

No one responded, and when she stepped inside the main cavern, there was no one else there. It was surprisingly large inside, the ceiling stretching several meters above her head. The source of the fire was small piles of burning vegetation, dimly ablaze and scattered around the floor; it didn’t seem very safe, but they did provide some light in the cave.

Madoka pulls off her outermost layer, since it had been hit by the bulk of the rain, and tries to wring some water from her long, pink hair.

"…I guess nobody's home," Madoka said softly.

So of course, as soon as she said that, the owner of the cave decided to return.

Said owner was a dragon named Akemi Homura.

Madoka freezes, equally out of shock as she did fear; the dragon was _much_ larger than her and she was armed with nothing. It could probably eat her without a second thought.

Homura was standing in the entrance of the cave and thinking mostly of being disgruntled over getting caught in the rain, rather than eating the person whose presence she hadn't even noticed. She shakes the water from her lavender fur, huffing out a sigh.

But when she turned to walk into her home, she realized a strange girl was there.

Madoka jumps as the dragon notices her — locking eyes with her, staring her down, but not moving an inch from the entrance. She panics, deferring her first reaction to her years of etiquette and diplomatic training. (She was too frozen from fear and exhaustion to do much else, anyway.)

"Um… H-hello!"

Her voice trembled and her mouth cracked into a nervous, diffusing smile. Be polite to the big, fire-breathing dragon, now.

Homura continued staring, because Madoka seemed _familiar_ , but…

Then the sensory elements all click into place: the pink hair; the sound of her voice; the scent of light, floral soaps; and the smell of the royal garden Homura herself had once been to.

…Of course. They had met before.

However, the child that was now a young woman didn't seem to remember her at all. Then again, Homura was no longer a child, either; at her full size, she must have been terrifying to Madoka, she supposes. (Some exceptions aside, most humans were afraid.) Maybe it was just childish naiveté that had ever allowed them to be friendly at all.

"Um," Madoka starts, her eyes flicking around nervously. "I'm s-sorry for intruding on your, um. Home…"

Homura just looks at her. She didn't particularly care about the 'intrusion'. Even if she did, humans couldn't understand her speech, so there was almost no point in talking.

Madoka swallows; Homura's silence was only making her more nervous, let alone the fact that she was unmoving from the only exit. She laughs nervously, scanning desperately for conversation topics as she tried to bide for time.

"The name outside— Akemi Homura…s-san?" Madoka looks at the dragon curiously. "Is that your name? M-maybe?…" She trails off into nervous laughter; it was sort of a silly conclusion to leap to, but she had nothing else to go on other than _"please stop blocking the exit"_ and _"please don't eat me"_.

Homura raises her eyebrows in surprise — it wasn't often humans caught onto that right away, if at all. All dragons used such a marker on the entrance of their homes; the shared language was on account of draconic magic, which granted them knowledge of the local human languages. (It didn't typically end in their favor, though. Most humans didn't think them intelligent enough to know language, much less use it.)

"Uh… i-it's a cool name!" Madoka offers. Oddly enough, she meant it genuinely, despite her being terrified.

Homura just blinks, a little embarrassed by the comment. She ducks her head slightly.

Madoka realizes with a muffled squeak that she had committed the cardinal sin of introductions in asking someone's name before giving her own — would she be eaten for being rude?!

"S-sorry! My name's Kaname Madoka," she blurts in a rush. Casual, scrambled, and totally lacking in curtseys; her childhood etiquette tutor would be in tears. Madoka bows her head, hoping to salvage the introduction. "I-I just go by Madoka, though…"

<I know.> Homura said quietly; but Madoka would hear only a small, growl-like murmur, not understand the words behind them. Madoka tilts her head slightly, curious at the noise nonetheless.

Madoka peered towards the entrance — it looked like it had already gotten dark out, making her wonder how long she could drag this out for. Even if she managed to get away, she would probably end up spraining an ankle, trying to run around in the dark. Maybe it really was best to stall and wait for Sayaka — if she was looking for her in the middle of a rainstorm (Madoka almost hoped not for Sayaka's sake). But… when she did get there, could Madoka get them both out in one piece, with one sword against a _dragon_?

Sayaka was brave and dedicated, but that was almost the worst part. Madoka had no doubts Sayaka would risk injury upon death if it meant ensuring her safety. The thought of such a thing, especially because she had wandered off against Sayaka's warning, and into a dragon's home, made Madoka want to cry.

Madoka sneezes.

Homura stares at her, startled from the sudden noise. Madoka seemed equally surprised before she realized it was out of being cold, and not her nose running from crying. She murmurs a sheepish _'excuse me'_ before briskly rubbing her forearms.

The combination of being damp from the rain, sitting in a _cave_ , (the small fires provided mostly dim light, and not heat) and being out after dark in the late fall meant Madoka was bound to be freezing. Madoka had been so distracted by worrying about dying of being eaten, she promptly forgot about dying of plain exposure to the elements. (Okay, maybe dying was overdramatic — she wasn't hypothermic yet. Very uncomfortable from the elements.)

Homura blinked at Madoka from across the cave, watching her teeth chatter, her tiny frame shivering against the cold. Even _Homura_ got cold at night, and she was covered in a dense layer of fur. She realized suddenly that Madoka must be _freezing_.

…Best not to let her freeze, then.

Madoka closed her eyes, uncomfortable from the chill on her bones. She mulled on how she would love to be back at camp, if not back home at the castle itself. Much warmer. Less dangerous.

Speaking of which, the dragon was moving; in her direction, at a speed that was gradual, but still enough to cause Madoka mild panic.

"Um— w-what are you doing?" Madoka squeaks out.

The closer Homura gets to Madoka, the clearer it is that she is _big —_ the dragon towered over Madoka in height, and the full length of her serpentine-esque body had to be over twenty feet long. Both her teeth and claws must have been huge. Madoka jerks her head up, grimacing in fear.

"D-don't come closer," Madoka whimpered. Strangely enough, the dragon actually does stop. (But there was no way it could understand what she had said, right?)

<You're cold.> Homura said flatly, reasonably. Or it might have been reasonable if Madoka understood it. <I was going to help you not be cold.>

Madoka just stares at her quizzically, still wondering if she had been understood. Homura stares back.

During the pause, with neither of them moving, Madoka shivered throughout — she almost thought she saw the dragon's eyes narrow when she did.

<See.> Homura said, grumpily. She steps forward and Madoka steps back.

When Homura advanced on her again, Madoka wondered if she shouldn't have shown any weakness through visibly being cold.

Thinking she was about to be eaten, Madoka stumbled backwards, falling back onto the cave’s floor.

Pitted against something armed with fangs, claws and fire, she was hopeless if it truly wanted to kill her. When the dragon sits near her and begins coiling slowly around her, Madoka’s heart just about wants to stop. She whimpers, terrified. The coil tightening doesn’t help assuage her fears of being strangled like a python’s dinner.

But then Homura stops moving, the long dragon’s coils halting before they became constricting. On the contrary, they were only loosely around her, not tight enough to even cause discomfort. The shared warmth of the dragon’s body even lightly around hers made an immediate difference temperature-wise, and it almost seemed like Homura was trying to cover as much of her as possible. Since she wasn’t being eaten at all, it seemed intentional.

Madoka watches timidly as Homura settles down and turns lavender eyes toward her.

<It should make things warmer…> Homura murmurs, despite knowing it was useless on account of the language barrier.

"U-um…" Madoka said. “Is this, uh… to share body heat?” When Homura continues silently staring at her, Madoka frowns determinedly. "Um… you could nod for yes, shake your head for no…?"

Homura feels a bit silly, since that wasn't her typical body language, but she nods anyway, so that Madoka would understand.

"O-oh.” Madoka let her hands settle in her lap.

Madoka felt a little silly, knowing that. It was actually sort of… considerate on the part of the dragon. Homura had coiled up gently enough to afford her warmth, but avoided doing it tightly enough to hurt her, or even make things uncomfortable. She wouldn’t have guessed, but sitting there was actually very comfortable and warm, compared to before.

“Um. M-miss dragon… er.” Madoka makes a face, remembering the name outside and giving it a shot. “Akemi-san?”

Homura flicks an eye open at her again, somehow managing to look deadpan. Madoka ducks her head.

“If that’s your name, um… do you not want to be called that?” Madoka tilts her head, frowning. “...Then, Homura-chan, maybe?”

Homura tips her head slightly, seemingly indicating it was fine. Madoka smiles a little.

“R-right. I just wanted to thank you…”

Madoka loops her hands around her ankles, turning her gaze away thoughtfully. She doesn’t catch Homura’s eyes widening in surprise.

“I sort of... ran off from my friend… it was really silly.” Madoka said. “So I was going to be in a bit of trouble one way or another, with it raining and then getting dark…”

Madoka smiles sheepishly toward Homura, before looking away again. “S-so thank you, for your help.” She pats one hand on the large, fuzzy coil surrounding her with a cheerful smile. “I really am a lot warmer like this! Ehehehe.”

Homura blinks at Madoka -- she hadn’t expected that reaction at all. Much less the comments, or Madoka being generally sort of cute. She flushes slightly red, embarrassed.

<...It was nothing.> Homura huffs out, shifting her gaze away.

Madoka peers at Homura, smiling cheerily. Now that there wasn’t any danger, sitting cozily with a big dragon was a novel experience, really! She sat back, getting a little more comfortable.

As soon as she did, she realized that Homura’s fur was _very_ soft. And Madoka was never one to pass up petting soft animals of any kind. She reaches out, touching the fur experimentally with the palm of her hand. After a moment, she strokes it along the length of the coil, reveling at how soft it was.

Homura jumps at the contact -- it wasn’t uncomfortable, (actually, sort of the opposite) but she hadn’t been expecting it at all. She whirls her head towards Madoka, chuffing indignantly.

Madoka jumps back with a small yelp, looking very much like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She removes her hand, holding both in the air.

“S-sorry! It was so soft, I thought I’d try petting it… sorry.”

Watching Madoka fumble sheepishly, looking guilty, Homura sighs.

<...it’s fine. I don’t care.>

Strangely enough -- maybe out of hopefulness more than anything -- Madoka gets the message. “...eh, is it okay?”

Having been asked a yes or no question, Homura nodded in response.

Madoka smiles before returning to petting the dragon’s fur -- it was thick enough to run her fingers through, softer than any animal she had petted before, and sitting in it was warmer than being bundled up in a thick blanket by the fireside. Madoka was basically in heaven. She giggles happily.

 

Being there stirred up a strangely nostalgic feeling for Madoka that she couldn’t entirely place. It reminded her of her childhood, though she couldn’t imagine why… but it made her feel strangely safe and secure, considering she was sitting with a normally very-dangerous creature.

That sense of security combined with her general exhaustion and being comfortable led to Madoka’s head tipping heavily to the side as she started to drift off. She jumps slightly, waking up. Homura just blinks at her, slightly concerned.

“Ah…” Madoka notices Homura looking, and laughs in embarrassment. “S-sorry, Homura-chan. You probably don’t want me to fall asleep on you!” Madoka shuts her eyes blearily. “I just started thinking about my childhood for some reason…”

Madoka trails off, her gaze distant both from sleepiness and trying to place the vague sense of nostalgia. Homura lowers her gaze.

 _She really doesn’t remember…_ Homura thinks.

It was surprising how it needled at her, considering Homura never thought she would see Madoka again.

After a moment, Homura shifts, pressing her nose into Madoka’s arm. Madoka’s voice lilts in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Madoka asks, smiling after a moment.

Homura said nothing; there wasn’t anything she could say that Madoka would understand. Madoka tentatively shifts, moving her hand to caress Homura’s cheek. Homura freezes, eyes wide.

“Ehehe, Homura-chan. You’re really soft, huh?”

<.........>

Madoka stroked loosely at the fur of her cheek for a bit, rubbing and scratching lightly with her fingers. Homura blinks softly, leaning into the touch as a low, contented purring started in her throat.

Madoka wasn’t awake enough to fully process and be excited about that, but she giggled sleepily regardless. Feeling her entire body heavy with tiredness, she yawns faintly.

“...is it okay if I sleep here?” Madoka asks.

Homura gives her a look.

<I don't know where else you plan to sleep... and anyway, it looks like you're already going to.>

It was true; almost as soon as Madoka has asked, she started drifting off again, leaning her head to the side and into one of Homura's coils, in addition to tucking her knees loosely against her chest, cuddling up into Homura's fur and generally making herself comfortable. The slightly grumpy dragon grumbling went unnoticed by Madoka as she mumbled blearily.

"Good night, Homura-chan..."

Homura just stared at her, shocked for a couple reasons that she was actually willing to fall asleep there. It didn't take long for Madoka to, either; almost instantly, really.

<...you changed.> Homura murmured, peering at Madoka and thinking of the child she had met in the gardens so long ago. <...Then again, maybe you stayed the same. Maybe I'm the one who changed...>

Madoka only breathed softly in response. Homura didn't know how she felt about that sweetly vulnerable sight. She averts her gaze, feeling oddly embarrassed.

Tucking her head to the floor near her coiled body, Homura shut her eyes and slept.

* * *

Madoka woke early the following morning. Pink eyes opened drowsily and adjusted to the dim sunlight peeking in through the cave’s entrance and the birds chattering outside.

It took a moment for it to fully register that she hadn’t fallen asleep in her bed, or the tent, for that matter. Madoka jumps slightly at the tight coils around her, and the slight rumbling snore coming from the same creature -- before remembering the dragon they were attached to had proven herself very friendly.

Madoka relaxes, smiling sleepily. It did take her a _little_ while to be fully awake in the morning, but once fully awake she was usually the most energetic. Which meant forcing anyone who was still asleep to be awake with her.

“Homura- _chaaan,_ ” Madoka murmurs, grinning. She fluffs the lavender fur nearest to her with both hands, at a speed that could be described as “obnoxious”. “It’s morning already! Time to wake up!”

Homura slept soundly through the attempt. She looked so peaceful and content, Madoka almost had a hard time waking her.

Almost.

“You’re going to have to get up and move, Homura-chan,” Madoka took on a teasingly scolding tone. “Or else I won’t be able to go find Sayaka-chan!”

Homura made a small, irritated exhale. Madoka passed it off as Homura’s grumpiness at being woken loudly, seeming how she didn’t know who Sayaka was. Besides, she was still sleeping, right?

...Madoka actually did have to wake her up, though. It was true she couldn’t really get out of the coils without Homura choosing to move.

“Homura-chan…” Madoka frowns. “Are you really still asleep?”

At Homura’s silence, Madoka reaches forward to where the dragon had her head laying on the rest of her coiled body, eyes still closed. Madoka rubs a hand over the top of Homua’s head, over her ear and down to her cheek. Though still sleeping, Homura leaned into her hand.

Madoka melts a little bit. She moved both hands to scratch lightly around Homura’s face and under her chin; while thinking that Homura did look terribly cute sleeping like that, this was probably the last time they were going to see each other before she would have to go, so maybe she should drag it out just a _little_...

The sound of the dragon purring in her grip arrested Madoka’s focus, a tiny bit.

Madoka stops, staring at Homura as she tries to confirm if this was really happening. She withdraws her hand just slightly, and the noise abates a little. After returning her hand to scratching Homura’s chin, the purring is back in full force. Madoka claps her free hand over her mouth, stifling a delighted squeal.

“Oh my god.” She whispers, through clamped fingers. “ _Ohmygod,_ that’s _cute_ \-- You didn’t tell me you could do that--”

The discovery of the giant, usually-fearsome creature contentedly purring while being petted was just too cute for Madoka to bear. It might have been the cutest thing _ever_.

So of course, she was just encouraged to pet Homura more, all while giggling cheerily. The purring from such a large creature became quite loud, reverberating around the cave.

Almost so loud that a certain knight might hear it, if she happened to be passing by...

 

* * *

 

Sayaka was having a difficult morning.

And night and evening, actually, because Madoka had decided to run off. (Or get kidnapped. Hopefully not that. Ha ha.)

Because of that, Sayaka had been running around in the woods for -- how ever many hours “all night” was, which felt like approximately forever when her best friend was missing and potentially hurt.

Best friend and royalty whom Sayaka had been knighted explicitly to protect. The same person who trusted Sayaka so implicitly, that she insisted and begged that nobody else come on their camping trip, because everything would be fine. You know, no pressure.

All in all, Sayaka was running on a cocktail of adrenaline and guilt, and wanted nothing more than to find Madoka and wrap her in a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa — at the castle. At the stupid castle where Madoka wouldn’t be in danger of being kidnapped, or breaking her ankle, or stumbling on the dragon that lived on the mountain. Because of course that was a thing.

 

* * *

 

In the light of day, it was much easier to navigate than by the piddling light a lantern offered.

It didn't take Sayaka long to find a cave, reverberating with a noise that sounded very much like a dragon's growl, to her. Or maybe a snore... if she was honestly lucky, it would be asleep.

Madoka could be in there, unfortunately.

Sayaka kept one tense hand on her sword's hilt, still hanging at her hip. She hadn't drawn it with the thought that she may have to grab Madoka in both hands and _run_ — and completely not the cowardly, impermissible thought that she was terrified to fight a dragon by herself.

After all, she had never seen a dragon — much less fought or killed one — until the moment she stepped inside the cave.

It wasn't quite what she expected.

Madoka was there, after all. Alive, seemingly in one piece.

But the dragon was there, too — it was purple, enormous, and coiled around her pink-haired charge like a boa constrictor. Over the noise it was making, Madoka didn't seem to notice Sayaka creeping in. Or the small shriek she failed to muffle when she saw Madoka in the literal clutches of a knight's worst enemy.

...but, after another moment of observation, it seemed like the dragon was asleep. Actually, it looked like Madoka was asleep, too.

"Madoka!" Sayaka whispers — not loud enough to be heard over whatever noise that dragon was making. She tries louder. "Madoka!!"

Madoka jumps. "I-I'm awake!" She yelps, like she had been caught sleeping by a tutor. Blearily, she takes notice of Sayaka, standing across the cave from her, and smiles.

"Oh, Sayaka-chan! You're okay! Good morning."

"Y-yeah. Good morn—" Sayaka starts to reply automatically, but stops herself. "Madoka, now is not the time–that's a dragon!"

"I know," Madoka said, looking at her sheepishly. "And she's actually really nice, don't worry. Her name's Homura-chan!"

Madoka smiles glowingly. Sayaka is almost too stunned to respond to any of that.

"You _named_ it?..." Sayaka mumbles, exasperated.

"I d-didn't!" Madoka cries, looking accused. "She already had it... it was written outside."

Sayaka starts to explain that (a) dragons can't write and (b) how did Madoka know it was a girl, anyway? — before she realizes it's a lost cause, and not the priority. Maybe dragons could hypnotize people.

"Madoka, I'm going to get you away from it." Sayaka said firmly, taking a few slow steps forward, not wanting to wake the beast. "Be quiet and still, okay—"

"Sayaka-chan!!" Madoka suddenly whispers urgently.

"W-what?!" Sayaka hisses back, dismayed at the quiver in her voice and the tremor on her sword hand. She may have to admit she was not prepared to fight a dragon if it was waking up.

Madoka's expression of barely-contained glee didn't match her urgent tone. "Look! Her tongue—"

Sayaka looks. She sees the dragon still seems to be fast asleep, and breathes a shaky sigh of relief.

Also, the stupid dragon's tongue was slightly sticking out. Sayaka stares at it, not understanding why Madoka would want her to see that.

"It's the tongue thing!" Madoka explains. "You know, like a kitty cat?"

"Madoka!" Sayaka nearly yells at her, raising her volume out of distress and exasperation. "It is not a cat! It's dangerous!"

Madoka's shoulders drop over being scolded. She starts up timidly. "A-actually, Sayaka-chan, she's—"

In the middle of her beginning to explain, Homura stirs with a small, sleepy whine. Madoka " _aww_ "s at her, almost automatically, before _"aww"-_ ing louder in disappointment when the dragon's tongue returns to its mouth, and the elusive tongue thing was over.

Sayaka has the opposite reaction of raw panic in the pit of her stomach — she had messed up, squandered her chance at using the dragon being asleep by chatting with Madoka about the stupid thing.

Now she was going to have to fight it.

* * *

Homura wakes up, slowly. There was some noise waking her up, but she wouldn't mind staying asleep...

She does stop purring, mostly; the automatic reaction to being petted while half-asleep was a little embarrassing. (And though it was really undignified to think so, it was actually sort of nice.)

Homura opens her eyes, shifting to look toward Madoka. She looked a bit nervous, but her gaze wasn't completely focused on Homura herself.

"M-Madoka," a voice said, from behind her.

Homura turns, and her eyes instantly narrow.

That little blue-haired jerk who hit her with a stick when they were kids was back.

But she got bigger, and by the looks of things — she brought a bigger stick.

Of course, Homura was much bigger now, too; honestly, so big that she shouldn't feel threatened. But having Sayaka appear put her on the defensive, back in the mindset of a bullied child.

Homura raises her head, a low-pitched growl rumbling from her throat.

"H-Homura-chan," Madoka squeaks, patting her placatingly. "This is my friend I was talking about, Sayaka-chan—"

Madoka yelps slightly when Homura uncoils. Without her seat suddenly removed, Madoka drops clumsily to her feet. After recovering, Madoka saw that Homura was shifting to stand at her full height as she stared Sayaka down. Growling even louder, her fur raising to make her appear larger.  

Sayaka's hands shook, but she pulled her sword from its sheath and held it at the ready.

Madoka cries in dismay from behind Homura. "S-Sayaka-chan... Homura-chan, you two, stop it!"

Homura didn't have any real intentions of hurting Sayaka. (Though she was entertaining the idea of sitting on her.) She didn't expect her threat display bluff to get called, though, and added a snarl in an attempt to scare Sayaka into backing down again.

But she didn't. If anything, she buckled down harder, looked even more determined. She shot glances towards where Madoka was fretting nearby.

"Madoka, get back where it's safe." Sayaka said. "Run away if you can. I'll take care of it."

Homura nearly wanted to laugh, because Sayaka honestly thought she could slay her. When it took six men at a minimum to have a chance at _slaying_ an adult dragon. All those years and she was still a foolish brat.

Homura was definitely going to sit on her.

And she started to advance with that purpose, while Sayaka grimaced and tried to steel herself.

Except Madoka moved between them, looking angry this time. "Don't ignore me! I told you both to stop!"

Both Homura and Sayaka hesitated, recoiling a little at the uncharacteristic anger in Madoka's voice.

Madoka pointed a scolding look over her shoulder at Sayaka; despite that, her tone was gentle. "Put your sword away, Sayaka-chan."

"What—" Sayaka sputters, turning angry. "That thing was about to attack me, and then you!"

Madoka gives her a reassuring smile.  "She won't."

She turns to face Homura, where she had stopped, and was only sulking grumpily. Madoka smiles up at her. "Right, Homura-chan?"

Homura can only endure a few seconds of Madoka's expectant, trusting gaze, before she has to shift her own gaze out of embarrassment.

<Fine.> Homura mumbles.

Shooting a glance at Madoka, she reluctantly sits on her hindquarters to prove she wouldn't. She catches Sayaka's almost aggressively disbelieving look in the background as Madoka smiles widely, both satisfied and grateful.

"See, Sayaka-chan?" Madoka said, so brightly it was bordering on cheekiness over having a dragon for a friend. "She's nice, so please put--"

" _Nice_!" Sayaka interrupts, both alarmed and exasperated. "Madoka! There is no such thing as a "nice" dragon! They don't even know what "nice" means!"

Sayaka emphasized her speech with air quotes, including the hand her sword was still in. Madoka watched worriedly as it cut 'nice', unsafe arcs in the air, before Sayaka returned to holding it properly. Homura watched too, though she was mostly hoping Sayaka would drop it on her foot.

"Okay," Madoka said slowly. "But _she's_ nice... n-nice to me."

She shoots Homura a small, nervous glance at the correction, considering that she hadn't been very nice to Sayaka at all. Homura looks back, still frowning at Sayaka over the character assassination she was currently listening to.

Sayaka narrows her eyes. "Well... that might be true, but... It's not normal. Maybe it's a trap, or a trick! Dragons are tricky. Maybe it's just being "nice"—" Aggravated air quotes and sword-swinging again. "—because you're a princess, so then it can kidnap you!"

Homura rolls her eyes. Kidnapping princesses was the sort of archaic tradition her grandparents followed. Or just total brutes. Also...

Madoka frowns thoughtfully. "But I'm already here, where she lives?... Where would I even be kidnapped to? And she let me go..."

—yes, also that. Homura could almost smirk from the satisfaction of having Madoka be the one to say that.

Sayaka grimaces — why did Madoka have to go and poke holes in her awesome logic?

"Um, maybe... to a better cave? I mean, this place is kind of a dump..." Sayaka pokes her sword towards one of the low-burning foliage piles. "What are these supposed to be, burning trash?"

Homura makes a loud, offended huff at that comment.

<I'm sure the barn you were obviously raised in is no better!> She hisses, insulted because her cave was totally nice.

Sayaka didn't catch the tone so much as think Homura was attacking again. Madoka turns at the noise, shooting Homura a look that begged her to be peaceable. Homura turns away, reluctantly agreeing.

Madoka sighs. Playing peacekeeper wasn't going well.

"Sayaka-chan... don't be mean. And please— I don't want to order you to put your sword away."

Sayaka frowns at her, before staring in Homura's direction. The dragon didn't move or look terribly threatening... at that moment. But Sayaka had heard plenty of stories with things changing in a second when it came to dragons. Madoka was too trusting and she wasn't actually safe.

Madoka steps forward and takes Sayaka's free hand in her own. Sayaka jumps slightly.

"Madoka—"

"Sayaka-chan, please." Madoka looks at her earnestly. "I don't want any violence and I don't want to order you around. Homura-chan won't hurt you or me, I promise."

Homura just raises her eyebrows slightly, wondering why Madoka would make such a plea on her behalf, right after meeting her ...for the second time.

Sayaka doesn't hold up long under Madoka being sincerely, earnestly pleading. She groans, rubbing the back of her head. "I can't believe you're making me feel bad about this."

Madoka's hopeful look brightens considerably when Sayaka sheathed her sword, making it obvious she was unhappy about it.

"Thank you," Madoka said, with a meekly thankful smile.

"Don't forget I was out all night looking for you, too."

Madoka's hand flies to cover her mouth as she stifles a shriek. She had forgot. "A-all night?"

" _Yes_. And you were here with—" Sayaka peers over Madoka's head at Homura; she was looking idly at them. Madoka follows her gaze. "—that, I'm guessing. I couldn't find you in the whole rest of the forest, anyway."

"Oh! S-Sayaka-chan, stop calling her mean things like 'it' or 'that'!" Madoka cries, but Sayaka's guilt trip has her deflating soon after. "And I'm really sorry you were out looking for me. R-really."

Madoka fidgets nervously under Sayaka's completely intentional lack of reaction.

"Uhh, but! H-Homura-chan actually helped me, since I was really cold. So she cuddled with me so I wouldn't freeze."

Homura sputters sharply from the other side of the cave — the first time she was included in the conversation for a while, and it was Madoka tossing her image as a cool and dangerous creature who shouldn't be crossed out the window.

"Cuddled with you," Sayaka repeats, squinting at Homura. She was trying to suss out from appearances alone what exactly was wrong with this dragon.

"Yep! It was really sweet of her."

Madoka smiles toward Homura, whose fur was poofing out from purely being flustered.

Sayaka looks unconvinced. "...uh-huh. Anyway, Madoka... I think we should go!"

Sayaka steps towards the exit and pulls Madoka along with her. Homura stares after them, not moving.

"Ah— w-wait, just one minute, okay!" Madoka stammers.

She was dragged along by Sayaka before pulling her hand loose. Sayaka groans at her.

Madoka trots over to Homura, standing before her timidly, hands clasped at her waist.

Homura peers at her, glancing over her head at where Sayaka was making some very threatening gestures she was sure Madoka wouldn't approve of. The gist was if she did anything to Madoka, Sayaka would slit her throat and chop her into tiny pieces. Fair enough.

Homura's gaze shifts back to where Madoka was shyly working up the courage to say something.

"Thank you again for your help, Homura-chan. I-it was nice meeting you, and I wish I could repay you for your kindness somehow..."

Sayaka was probably being obnoxious in the background, but Homura tuned it out in favor of wondering how Madoka was so impossibly sweet. Homura had barely done what she considered much of a favor, without even getting into that Madoka was treating her very kindly, herself. Most humans would never so much as dream to even pay lip service to repaying a debt to a dragon.

Madoka was seemingly deep in thought, nearly to the point that Homura was thinking of gently pushing her towards the door so that she wouldn't worry about something like debt towards her. Then again, Sayaka would probably think Homura was trying to eat her...

"I know!" Madoka exclaims suddenly. "Homura-chan... what if you came and stayed at the castle for a little while?"

Homura stared, shocked by the offer. Sayaka made a distressed screech from across the cave.

" _No_ , Madoka. This is not a stray cat. You can't take it home with you." Sayaka stormed over, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you want to explain to your mom why the castle burned down?"

Madoka pouts. "No. But I won't have to, because Homura-chan isn't going to do that. Besides, she didn't even say yes or no yet!"

They both whirl to look at her, and the giant dragon nearly flinches.

"Please? Homura-chan? Just for a few days?" Madoka has her best puppy dog eyes on. "I can show you around the whole kingdom, and it'll be like a sleepover trip! A-and I'll make sure everyone knows you're a nice dragon!"

Sayaka just gives Homura a flat glare. "No. Dragons and castles do not mix."

Madoka shushes her, loudly.

Homura stares between the two of them, before looking just toward Madoka.

And eventually, nodding her head once in agreement with a quiet, <Okay.>

Madoka claps her hands together with a quiet " _yaaay_ " and a broad smile. Sayaka looks like she had a bucket of ice water thrown in her face.

"I can't believe this," she mumbles, before collecting herself. "Madoka— the dragon can't come home with us. I'm serious. This is getting out of hand."

Madoka sideeyes her. "Sayaka-chan... as the Princess, I order you to stop being a mean spoilsport right now."

Sayaka grumbles. She hated when Madoka played the princess card. Stupid direct orders. Stupid knight's honor.

Stupid dragon.

Madoka was already hugging said dragon around the neck. Who looked to be squirming and fidgeting nervously while Madoka chatted away about all the things she wanted to show her.

Sayaka was having a very difficult morning. She wanted very much to climb into bed, pretend dragons didn't exist and her best friends whims didn't include them.

The next week was going to be hell.


	3. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just before Homura is supposed to return home, Madoka is kidnapped. Homura and Sayaka team up to get her back.

“Hey— you— _stupid-ass_ dragon— _”_ Sayaka is yelling through gritted teeth, punctuating every sentence with a kick to Homura’s hide. Considering Homura had been sleeping peacefully before that, it was in many ways a rude awakening. “—wake _up!”_

Homura growls, rising up on her hind legs to sit at her full height; it would either be intimidating enough to scare her off, or if she _really_ wanted to fight…

Though oddly, Sayaka didn’t even have her sword drawn properly. She looked like a nervous wreck. She starts babbling.

“Just listen to me— they took Madoka, okay?” Sayaka grimaces. “I don’t know if they’re assassins or kidnapping for ransom or what, but they could really hurt her…”

It takes Homura only a moment to register that information — _Madoka’s gone and could be hurt or worse —_ and only a second for adrenaline to flood her body.

_your fault, this is_ **_your_ ** _—_

Homura bares her teeth, bowling Sayaka over in a rage. Sayaka’s sword clangs loudly as it skitters across the ground. It isn’t nearly as loud as the dragon roaring in Sayaka’s face.

Disarmed, with her limbs pinned down and an enraged, deadly creature more than eager to bite her head off— Sayaka was either very brave or very, very dedicated to her princess. She grits her teeth.

“Yelling at me won’t _do_ anything! I can’t even understand you!” Sayaka barks angrily. Homura stops roaring, but a furious, low growl remains in her throat. Sayaka frowns at her.

“I know what way they went… to a point.” Homura squints at her, confused.

“I came to get you so that you could help _save_ her.” Sayaka flashes a grin despite her situation. “Figured having a dragon on our team would help our odds.”

* * *

They find Madoka.

Homura is charging in, attacking almost everything that moves. Sayaka is able to slip past her rampage and make it to Madoka. She cuts her binds within moments, hurriedly removing her gag and blindfold, next.

“S—Sayaka-chan?” Madoka calls out. Her shaking hands find Sayaka’s arm as she pulls off the blindfold. Madoka looks ready to burst into overjoyed (or terrified) tears from the second she sees her.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Sayaka confirms, smiling slightly. She helps Madoka to her feet, the shorter girl trembling and unsteady. “We have to go, though. Right now.”

“W-why?” Madoka asks. “Is Homura here…?”

They both nearly leap out of their skin as Homura screams in pain and anger; the volume alone was enough to cause them to shake. As they turn to look, it’s clear that Homura is fighting off the last couple stragglers dumb or confident enough to consider taking a dragon on. It seems like she’s attempting to fight clean and avoid dealing mortal blows; but her avoidant style is leaving her open and vulnerable.

Homura snaps ineffectively at one of the bandits as they score a deep cut in her flank. She stifles a loud cry — her motivation being that Madoka was watching her; white as a sheet and already looking nearly in tears. Sayaka was probably attempting to drag her off while the coast was clear, but she looked rooted to the spot.

_Madoka’s still in danger, like this…_

Homura growls, snapping at anyone that came too close. They were getting into formation to finish her off. Homura’s back, quite literally comes to be pressed against a wall.

“Madoka, _stop it!_ We have to go, now!” Sayaka is attempting to pull her, very ineffectually.

“I… Homura’s still—” Madoka cries. She’s trembling all over and seems particularly traumatized by the experience, but she still can’t seem to pull her sight away from the battle with Homura at the center.

“Forget about her!” Sayaka demands. It was the last thing she could do, short of disobeying direct orders and physically _carrying_ Madoka to safety. Not that she was sure she could even do so particularly efficiently. _If she would just stop risking her life for a_ ** _dragon_** _of all things—_

Madoka turns to face Sayaka, and she seems almost uncharacteristically _furious_ by the very suggestion.

“I am _not_ leaving without Homura-chan!” She declares.

Perhaps thankfully, she wouldn’t have to.

Homura unleashes a storm of fire at the remaining stragglers. It wasn’t hot enough to incinerate or even kill them right away; they screamed and suffered. Homura sat back, still cornered, and watched.

Madoka watches in horror. She sees only a shadow of the almost-tame animal she had brought into her home.

“Damn it…” Sayaka hisses.

Sayaka moves, shoving Madoka forcibly behind her; she stumbles back uneasily. The least Sayaka could do — one arm outstretched to keep Madoka from running into the fray (or being burned, or _seeing_ if she turned her cape at the right angle), the other holding her sword. (Both arms shook. Sayaka had been lucky to avoid watching anyone be _burned alive_ before this.)

“Stay back, Madoka. I told you **_it_** was dangerous.”

Madoka looks at Sayaka, and again at the wounded animal, just defending herself; and wonders who was right.

 

* * *

 

The men stop moving, eventually. The rest of them had most likely been scattered or picked up by the royal guard.

The threat of Madoka being hurt or killed by those men was gone; so Homura breathes. She realizes she was still nicked in a number of places and had a deep gash in another; but it felt like a relatively small price to pay.

Her attention moves to Madoka herself, standing with Sayaka across the hideout floor— aside from looking very distressed by the whole situation, she didn’t seem to be injured. Sayaka notices Homura looking, and takes it the wrong way; she moves further in front of Madoka with a firm glare, the metal of her cutlass rattling.

Homura looks at them a moment more, her gaze hovering on Madoka.

_…This is probably how it should be._

Homura turns away. She couldn’t move far with her leg injury — but perhaps they would take the hint and leave while they had the chance to escape.

She doesn’t expect Madoka to break out of Sayaka’s protection, and come running near to her.

“Madoka, please! That thing is—” Sayaka nearly sounded at her wit’s end. She most likely was. Taking up the helm to protect not only royalty, but ones’ best friend, and then having them constantly running headfirst into danger… was probably maddening. Homura sympathized; not that she thought Sayaka would appreciate that.

But Madoka cuts her off with a firm look. “That’s enough, Sayaka-chan.”

However begrudgingly, Sayaka respected that; whether out of duty, or experience that Madoka’s stubbornness couldn’t be toppled, Homura wasn’t sure.

Madoka looks up at her; her expression is ambivalent, unreadable.

“Homura-chan…” Her tone is slightly less so. It was somewhere between resignation and hope.

“You came here with Sayaka-chan, right?” Homura doesn’t make a sound. “…to take care of the bandits?”

Homura nods, faintly. It was a gesture Madoka would recognize, at least; making growls or whines of assent seemed like a bad idea at the time.

Madoka hesitates. “Did you do what you did out of self-protection?”

The gash on her leg stings nastily when it feels like it isn’t for a noble cause.

But it would be a lie to just flatly answer ‘no’. Homura would have died, just spare minutes ago, if not for that. She nods again.

“Was any of that to protect me?” Madoka asks.

Sayaka just _barely_ scoffs. If not a ridiculous question to ask — dragons do not protect people — it was at least, a leading one. But considering the language barrier, their options were very limited, in that way. Madoka just chose the most direct route to knowing what she wanted to.

Homura ignores Sayaka, staring instead at Madoka. She really did seem hopeful, but… perhaps resigned to the possibility that her playtime with the big, friendly dragon may be over.

_…Of course, I don’t want that._

Homura would have died for her that day, if it meant that Madoka would be safe, and happy. In this case, it didn’t. Determining the reason behind that desire was both not her forté, and left her with a funny feeling in her chest.

So even though it was more complicated than just a yes, that’s all she can say.

Madoka looks relieved — a small smile plays along her lips — but conflicted. “I see…”

She’s quiet for a moment, before she walks closer to Homura, bridging the gap between them entirely. Surprisingly, it makes _both_ the other beings in the room tense; Sayaka because she thought she was in danger, and Homura because she was surely a sight after battle; she knew for a fact her usually-lavender fur would be marred and sticky with blood.

(She had an odd compulsion to wipe it off, so that Madoka wouldn’t see. How very un-dragon-like…)

Madoka tentatively reaches up and cups a hand to Homura’s jaw, caressing her cheek. It was a sweet gesture; though sticking your hand anywhere near a mouthful of big, sharp teeth was either very brave or very trusting. (If it was Madoka, most likely both, Homura considers.)

“…I wish they didn’t have to die, but…” Madoka smiles at her; even through her ambivalence, the warmth intended in it gets through to Homura. “…Thank you for protecting me. I promise I won’t forget that you did.”

Her gratitude meant… more than she knew. If they weren’t in such a situation, Homura might have turned red.

Even if that last line filled Homura with a weird, harsh twinge of sadness out of nowhere, and she didn’t know why.

“You and Sayaka-chan, both.” Madoka turns, acknowledging her childhood friend. “It might be your job, but you put your life on the line for me…”

“It _is_ my job.” Sayaka sighs, doing relatively well at hiding the stress and frustration in her voice.

She shares a brief look with Homura in a curt reminder of what her job would usually entail. Homura couldn’t fault her for being cautious, in the least; for the most part, it meant Madoka was safer and happier. “…So, don’t worry about it.”

Madoka smiles at her, because it was just like Sayaka to brush off a sincere “thank you for risking your life for me” as not a big deal.

Madoka regards Homura’s various wounds. She almost reaches out to touch her, but thinks better of it; if Homura was hurt like that, even she might not be able to avoid thrashing automatically.

“…We can have Mami-san take care of that at home.” Madoka says quietly. She gives Homura a moment to protest either going ‘home’, or being healed. She doesn’t. “Can you move by yourself?”

 _Painfully. But I can._ Homura attempts to demonstrate this by moving; jostling around with her level of injury causes her to whine unintentionally. Madoka waves her hands frantically.

“Ah— don’t try to move!” Madoka cries. Homura stops, obediently; Madoka’s expression changes from worried to reassuring. “I’ll take care of it. …Sayaka-chan.”

“…Yes, Your Highness?” Sayaka replies. Either she was attempting professionalism, or just playing along, since Madoka would steamroll over her very reasonable suggestions, anyway. Madoka walks close to her.

“The guard is coming back here, right?”

“They are definitely taking their time,” Sayaka makes little effort to hide her frustration. “…But yes, they should be here soon.”

“Could you have them bring a wagon for Homura-chan, then?” Madoka pauses, looking thoughtful. “I guess they’re already bringing the carriage for me, but I don’t want her to have to curl up since she’s injured, and I don’t know if she’d fit…”

The dragon groans in embarrassment from somewhere behind them. Madoka smiles, waving at her. Sayaka groans too, at their exchange; but Madoka doesn’t seem to notice as much.

“I’ll have them do that.” Sayaka says. _As if I’d let that big, dumb fuzzball bleed and shed all over the royal carriage._

By the way Homura is glaring at her, it’s almost like she can read her mind. Either that or it was her default face for Sayaka. She dearly hoped it was the latter, considering how many times a day she cursed her mentally.

“Thank you.” Madoka says, smiling. Sayaka nods, turns to leave — even if she was just going to stand watch, because it wasn’t as if she was going to leave them alone after all of _that_ — but Madoka catches her arm. Sayaka looks back, surprised.

“Please make sure they know she’s not an enemy.” Madoka is speaking soft and quiet, perhaps hoping that the subject of their conversation wouldn’t overhear. Madoka looks back at Homura, all sadness and sympathy. “She’s been through enough today…”

Sayaka narrows her eyes, wondering where in the world Madoka’s reason was. _She_ was the one who got kidnapped. _She_ was the one who had been through “enough”. But there she was, watching after Homura like she was the only one that mattered.

Though watching the dragon lick her wounds from across the room, Sayaka did feel a pang of guilt; knowing that could have been her, and she would have been bleeding out from an injury like that, by now. Much less if anything had happened to Madoka…

_I don’t owe her._

She wished she could believe that completely.

Sayaka bows, both out of assent to the request and to put the object of her guilt out of her sight.


	4. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madoka confides in Homura.

Madoka comes back from her council meeting in tears.

Homura, having been kicked out of the meeting hall for knocking nearly everything over, was sulking in the corner, curled into a loose ball of coils. But she perks up as Madoka flops down on her bed, her frame bobbing with stifled sobs.

She wanders over — figuring her being kicked out of the hall was… _fairly_ reasonable — and settles down beside Madoka. The princess blinks, looking up almost as if she didn’t expect her to be there. The dragon just calmly meets her gaze, not moving from that spot.

“Homura-chan…” She mumbles. She jumps, suddenly self-conscious as she sniffles, wiping her tears away. “I-I thought you were mad at me…”

Homura makes a short grumble. _Not really. Though I wouldn’t mind being let back in the meeting hall._

Madoka looks at her curiously, parsing the nonverbal communication they had. Homura wasn’t sure about the meeting hall bit — she was sure Madoka would get it when she was dragging her to the room itself — but she certainly got that she wasn’t mad anymore.

Either that, or her winding her arms around Homura’s neck and burying her face in her plush fur was Madoka’s way of asking for an apology. Homura is careful not to move, much; she was so _little_ compared to her…

They sit quietly, for a little bit. Madoka’s arms suddenly tighten around Homura.

“Can I tell you a secret?…” Madoka whispers.

She breaks out of the hug enough to look Homura in the eye; every bit of frailty and insecurity in her voice was etched equally onto her face. The dragon nods, slightly. Though, it was almost silly to ask. It wasn’t as if she could speak to _tell_ anyone a secret.

(Homura wouldn’t even if she could.)

Madoka smiles for a brief moment at that assent. As she drops her gaze to her lap, her sincere smile fades to something more tired and worn.

“The council, you know… They wanted to talk to me about getting… m-married.”

Homura stiffens in Madoka’s grip. If Madoka noticed, she didn’t show it. She continues talking, staring at her hands in her lap with a troubled expression.

“You know what they said to me? They said I wasn’t capable of making rational decisions for myself. That I’m putting myself in excessive _danger._ Can you believe the _nerve_ …” Madoka draws in a bitter, angry breath, her voice shaking.

Homura feels her stomach sink.

_It’s my fault._

Even if Madoka didn’t say explicitly, what else could _irrationality_ and _danger_ mean? Sayaka gave Madoka speeches about it while she brushed her _teeth_.

Of course, it was pretty reasonable to be concerned about the safety of the royalty when they start sharing a room with fire-breathing dragons.

“Then they suggested an _arranged_ marriage, started listing off potential men, talking about _heirs_ for god’s sake—” Madoka breathes out unsteadily; despite herself, hot, angry tears are rolling down her cheeks. “I couldn’t do it— I stormed out, I just—”

Madoka falls silent. She moves one hand to loosely stroke at Homura’s fur; whether it was meant to be soothing to herself or to Homura, she wasn’t sure.

“I…” Madoka’s gaze drifts to the balcony, for a moment.

“I’m not interested in men.” She says, very quietly. She looks up at Homura, smiling sheepishly. “I just like girls.” Madoka has another thought as she looks to the side, laughing wryly. “Though even if there _were_ women to be arranged to… ah.”

As Madoka trailed off vaguely, Homura was left totally silent and unresponsive. She didn’t have an immediate reaction — she didn’t know what to _say,_ not that she could even speak in a way Madoka could understand, and she had never been so frustrated by that until this moment — so Madoka looks down, laughing nervously.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Madoka asks quietly.

 _That_ gets a response. Homura hisses — not angrily, but just generally starts making every manner of negative noises she can think of. (It comes across about as silly as it sounds; the dragon equivalent of stuttering all over the place.) Since her head is high enough to not give Madoka a concussion from moving it, she shakes it quickly back and forth — a very fervent and decisive _no, Madoka_.

Madoka gawks at her display for a moment before smiling softly. She breaks into a cheerful giggle. Homura promptly stops all movement and noise, shrinking slightly in embarrassment. (Not that she could get much smaller.)

“Eheh… Sorry for laughing.” Madoka wipes any remaining tears from her eyes. “I feel much better now.”

Homura relaxes; at least Madoka was feeling better. She may have even smiled, if her facial structure was suited for that; the closest Homura could get to the human gesture was opening her mouth wide, showing off all of her teeth. (Madoka was impressed, but it tended to scare most people.) Homura’s eyes softened as she watched Madoka.

_Even if we can’t talk…_

Madoka gazed up at her.

“Thank you, Homura-chan.” Madoka smiles warmly. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Homura stares for a moment — before turning bright red, her fur bushing up to become enormous. Madoka squawks in surprise. The fluff wave nearly knocks her over.

“Ehh, Homura-chan! What was that for! Are you embarrassed?! Don’t curl into a ball!”

The flustered squawks of the Akemi dragon fill the halls of the castle again that day.


	5. Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Springtime brings courtship behaviors for all animals.

It’s a lovely spring day in the kingdom. Madoka is out on one of the castle’s many balconies, humming cheerfully to herself as she enjoys tea under a shaded table.

She looks up curiously when footsteps approach on the stonework, but brightens immediately at the familiar face.

“Oh, Sayaka-chan!” Madoka beams. “It’s so nice out today! Come join me, will you?”

Sayaka smiles at her, eyes moving over the tea set; it was certainly set for more than one person.

“I’d like to, but I have to go back to work soon. I just came to check up on you.”

“Aw!” Madoka makes an exaggerated pout, but drops it quickly, resorting to her usual sheepish laughter. “Well, that’s okay. I’m doing well, thanks.”

Sayaka grins, shrugging her shoulders. “Seems like it.” Though, it did seem like one puzzle piece was missing; since lately, Madoka couldn’t go ten feet without being accompanied by a certain someone.

“Where’s Homu— er.” Sayaka catches herself a little too late, but brushes it under the rug best she can, coughing. “Where’s your dragon?”

Madoka does well to hide her delight and amusement at Sayaka referring to Homura by her name, but she smiles a little brighter at the mention of her anyway.

“She was flying around just a little while ago… She’s very excited.” Madoka giggles, running her fingers along the edge of her teacup. “It seems Homura-chan really likes nice spring days like this!”

“…Excited.” Sayaka echoes. Madoka gives her a puzzled look.

She probably _would_ be excited, considering dragons like her _mated_ in the spring.

Sayaka stifles a groan, wishing she didn’t know that particular bit of information. …Though, it was good that Madoka didn’t seem to know. She’d probably be all over trying to find Homura a dragon boyfriend or something equally terrible.

There’s a sudden soft, warbling cry and speak of the devil; Homura appears.

…With an armful of roses Sayaka is _sure_ were planted in the castle’s gardens last year; red and light pink roses. The uprooted flowers are dumped unceremoniously at Madoka’s feet.

Somehow, Madoka found it endearing. “Oh, Homura-chan, you’re back!” She looks over her chair at the flowers. “Oh, how cute!”

_Is it._ **_Is_ ** _it cute, Madoka. Is it the big clods of dirt that make it cute, or the giant roots sticking out because it was ripped out of the ground._

Madoka probably thought the way Homura puffed up and turned red was cute, too. (She definitely did.) Sayaka groans, wanting to hit her head on something.

Homura stares at Madoka for a moment before taking off into the air again. She stays within sight this time; and it seems to be intentional, because in the next moment she’s doing some rather fancy aerial acrobatics.

Sayaka feels her stomach fall into her shoes.

That was a _courtship_ dance. Which, considering there weren’t any other dragons around—

_Isn’t she doing it at Madoka?!_

Madoka definitely doesn’t know, but she seems impressed enough anyway. She laughs delightedly, jumping up from her seat to get a better view.

“Wow, Homura-chan!” Madoka leans on the stone railing of the balcony, smiling wide. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

Homura looks at her sideways, a faint red flush rising on her face. Her dance was a little less impressive when her fur puffed up as big as it did.

Madoka laughs giddily to herself, wandering back to Sayaka. She notices the strained smile and vaguely ill look on her face.

“What’s wrong, Sayaka-chan?” She asks. “Wasn’t that cool? I thought Homura-chan was really cool!”

Homura makes a loud, embarrassed cry in the background. Sayaka smiles helplessly at her. There really wasn’t any way she could word it…

_…Yeah, I can’t tell her._

Which was a good resolve to make, because in the end, it wasn’t like Homura could tell her, either. Sayaka pats Madoka on the shoulder, nodding to herself and feeling quite relieved.

“Haha, wow.”

Kyouko had been walking along the rooftop, her arms slung loosely over her spear; and apparently stopped by to watch. (She insisted hanging out on the roof was for patrolling reasons, but Sayaka knew it was because she just wanted to skip out on actual work.)

“Kyouko…” Sayaka groans. She really had enough to deal with without adding Kyouko to the mix. “What do you want?”

Kyouko shrugs, grinning at her. “Nothin’. Just enjoying the show.”

Sayaka glares at her; before it clicks in her mind that out of anyone else — the one person who would understand the context for what Homura was doing… would be Kyouko.

_don’t tell don’t tell DON’T TELL…_

“Hey, Homura!” Kyouko cups her hands around her mouth and yells. “Nice courtship dance, you big nerd!”

Sayaka chokes. Madoka drops her teacup.

Homura stops right in the middle of a loop-de-loop, her fur puffing out. She hisses at Kyouko — though by the way she was turning red, herself, it seemed more out of embarrassment than anger. She charges her, but Kyouko just cackles and runs away. The noise of their chase fades off into the distance.

“…Eh?” Madoka’s face is as red as the roses Homura had dropped at her feet.

Sayaka is in despair.

_I can’t believe she just TOLD, I’m gonna KILL her—_

“C-courtship…”

Sayaka’s head snaps up. Madoka is in a daze, mumbling to herself. She looks flustered and a good degree _surprised_. She probably never even considered the possibility.

_Haha, no way, Madoka, that was just a_ **_friendship_ ** _dance, for friends. By the way, the flowers were also for friends. Please pay no attention to that they are roses, or red, for that matter. I’m sure for dragons red roses mean, “I want to burn your kingdom to the ground”._

…That probably wouldn’t work.

“Was that — I mean…” Madoka is all over the place. “Does she like me like that? Like, ‘more than a friend’, like me?” Madoka squints at her feet, whispering in an almost reverent tone. “Does she _like-like_ me, Sayaka-chan.”

“Like-like…” Sayaka echoes, staring at her. She feels like she’s having an out-of-body experience.

There wasn’t a lot she could say, since it did seem that Homura— er, felt that way.

Madoka looks troubled. “Should I discourage this kind of thing…”

Finally, something with an easy answer!

“YES. YES YOU SHOULD.” Sayaka yells. Madoka squeaks at her sudden volume.

“But, Sayaka-chan…” Madoka gives her a pathetic look. “I don’t want to hurt her feelings…”

Sayaka is at a loss for words again. She sighs, trying to compose something that would take dragon crushes into account, before Madoka speaks again.

“And that said, I don’t know how I…” Madoka is bright red and very carefully studying her shoes. “…feel about… Homura-chan…”

_Ha. Ha ha._

“Madoka?” Sayaka laughs nervously. “Umm, what do you mean?”

_She definitely doesn’t mean it like that. She’s definitely not in love with—_

Madoka makes a small, nervous noise and blushes, fumbling with her hands.

Unfortunately for Sayaka, she definitely was.


	6. Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homura asks Kyousuke to transform her into a human.

Kamijou Kyousuke led a simple, untroubled life as a simple, untroubled wizard.

Or at least, he used to.

Lately, his childhood friend and local royalty, Kaname Madoka, had been inadvertently causing him some trouble.

Rather, because of her pet…

…Granted, dragons were not _pets_ so much as wild and dangerous beasts.

But Madoka insisted that ‘Homura’ was very “friendly and sweet” every time she brought her by. Usually in attempts at casting enchantments to allow Homura to speak; _“nobody understands her!_ ” Madoka would complain. (Kyousuke had a feeling Madoka meant no one understood her in the emotional rather than literal sense. Of course, nobody human could understand the growls and chirps that made up Homura’s language.)

Madoka wasn’t even wrong about Homura; the dragon was friendly-seeming (he hadn’t been burned or maimed yet!) and almost _polite_. She seemed to try very hard to keep to herself, but by nature of being so large, she ended up causing a disastrous mess in Kyousuke’s lab no matter what.

Said pet had now appeared at Kyousuke’s doorstep, without any warning and certainly without Madoka.

Kyousuke nearly went into cardiac arrest right there.

But knowing it was the _princess’s_ treasured pet (er, friend?)… there wasn’t much he could do but be polite and hope she wasn’t there to reduce the place to ashes. (She _was_ only sitting there.)

“Haha… C…can I help you…”

The lavender-furred creature just nods resolutely in response.

 

* * *

 

“Kyou _—_ suke-kun…” Madoka calls, poking her head in the door and letting her voice carry into the depths of the study. “Anyone home?”

Madoka was quiet for a moment, waiting for a response, but there wasn’t any. She hums thoughtfully and pushes the door slowly open.

It was rude to just walk in, of course — she wouldn’t be very good royalty without manners, of course! — but she _had_ knocked!

…And more importantly, Homura had been gone for _hours_ , and Madoka had already looked almost everywhere else. Madoka was really starting to worry she had run off or something.

(Or much worse, that she had gotten hurt, or that someone had found her and not understood that she was friendly…)

But it was important not to lose hope, and to just keep looking until she found Homura.

Sayaka was busy working, but she had Mami and Kyouko running around looking for her, too. (Madoka would have sent the castle staff, but there weren’t many who were really willing to go _looking_ for a dragon. If their hearts weren’t in the search, it wasn’t worth it; Madoka would just end up re-searching the spots they had looked in.)

So, Kyousuke’s lab was next on the list. It wasn’t a likely spot for Homura to be, but she had to check.

Walking further into the lab, Madoka heard the clamor of hushed, almost panicked-sounding voices. Her eyebrows perk up curiously; only to crease in baffled concern at the sound of shattering glass. (Agonized groaning. Angry, hissing whispers.)

“Um, Kyousuke-kun?” Madoka calls. It really did seem like he was there; and with another person, at that. “Are you there? Is everything alright…? I heard some glass break…”

“Ahaha— M-Madoka!” Kyousuke responds. He sounds quite nervous.“How nice of you to… visit!”

Madoka turns her head; from the sound of his voice, it seemed like he was on the other side of a large, overstuffed bookcase, partitioning the room.

“Um… is now a bad time?” Madoka asks. Kyousuke’s nervousness was infectious. “I’m sorry for bursting in uninvited… I actually just have a quick question.”

Madoka steps around the bookcase — Kyousuke is there, certainly. (He looked like he was having a panic attack of some kind.)

Standing between them, though, was a tall, dark-haired girl with soft lavender eyes. She had very pale skin and long, lissome features. She wore a very simple, white sundress, and looked to be in her late teens or early twenties; around Madoka’s age.

 _She’s very pretty,_ is Madoka’s first thought. Madoka smiles at her, almost automatically if she hadn’t genuinely meant it.

The second thought was that the girl was certainly _staring_ at Madoka; she seemed almost stricken.

“…Ah.” Madoka realizes with a start she had been just looking and saying nothing, herself; she jumps to correct her rudeness. “Hello!”

* * *

“I don’t know if this is going to work.” Kyousuke warns; even though he is more nervous than the soon-to-be-recipient of his enchantment. “It could even end up hurting you if the magic goes wrong…”

Homura isn’t deterred by that whatsoever.

<It’s fine. If it means I can speak with Madoka on equal terms…> Homura exhales, shutting her eyes. <…that’s fine. Whatever consequences there are, I’ll live with them.>

Kyousuke sighs, staring back at the page of a large, weathered grimoire.

_Transfigurations: human-to-animal and animal-to-human._

What a troublesome thing to ask.

 

* * *

 

“Um… Homura…” Kyousuke pauses, tilts his head to the side, decides to err on the side of politeness. “…-san?”

The dark-haired girl that took the place of the giant lavender reptile is staring very intently at her hands — turning them over and looking at them as though she’d never seen them before.

Well, she literally hadn’t.

“It really worked,” Homura mumbles. She’s surprised and a tiny bit elated. Kyousuke looks a bit happy too; or just relieved that he hadn’t done anything terrible to the princess’s beloved dragon.

That moment of relief lasts about ten seconds.

_“Kyou—suke-kun… Anyone home?”_

Homura and Kyousuke both freeze instantly at the voice, before looking at each other in terror.

Of course, Homura was able to place who the voice belonged to very easily.

“…Madoka.” Homura says quietly.

In the next moments, she’s angrily hissing things back and forth to Kyousuke — _did you_ ** _invite_** _her here?! …Lock the door, then? What’s the matter with you?! —_ and scrambling around the lab, unsure what to do with herself. She attempts to hide, maybe, but stops after knocking over something glass and expensive. There wasn’t really anywhere to hide, anyway, and—

—Madoka’s right there, in the next moment, stepping out from behind a bookshelf.

Homura pauses, stops all her fumbling around and just looks at Madoka.

Madoka was the same as always; though, she did look a tiny bit flushed and exerted, as though she had been running all over the place.

_Madoka is the same as before, so, why…_

Homura wondered if perhaps this body came with health defects, because her heart was pounding strongly in her chest.

* * *

“Ah… Hello!” Madoka greets. She’s smiling, warm and friendly.

Homura just stares at her, still unable to say… anything.

She had gone and transformed for Madoka’s sake; Madoka had wanted to speak with her, so now the possibility existed, but now that she was actually _here_ —

Homura wasn’t entirely prepared to tell her. More like, she really didn’t know what to say. She had no idea how Madoka would react, and there was no one else whose opinion Homura cared about more…

Put simply, Homura found herself horribly nervous and tongue-tied in Madoka’s presence, and she didn’t fully know why. She squirms, fumbling with the hem of her dress. (Wearing clothes was weird. Stripping down in front of Madoka because she was uncomfortable with cotton would probably be more weird.)

Of course, Madoka didn’t know who she was… but _she_ knew Madoka, and she couldn’t pretend not to…

Homura realizes she had been just gawking at the ground, anxious and nonverbal, when Madoka speaks up again.

“Ah, Kyousuke-kun.” Madoka notices him at last; he smiles weakly at her, probably terrified.

“Sorry to interrupt…” Madoka laughs briefly, before looking concerned. “I’m actually looking for Homura-chan, is there any chance that you’ve seen her around?…”

Homura makes a small choking noise, turning away from Madoka to try and hide it.

_Looking for me—_

Homura looks up, staring at Kyousuke so intently that he was forced to make terrified eye contact with her. She squints angrily, attempting to transmit her thoughts over telepathy.

 _Kamijou Kyousuke. If you treasure the life you have now, you will not reveal a single thing to Madoka. If you do—_ Homura pauses, thinking of the worst thing she could do. _—I’ll rip up your grimoires. The very rare ones. So don’t say a word._

The only thing Kyousuke got was Homura’s glowering stare, but it seemed to be enough.

“…I haven’t… seen her…” Kyousuke says slowly. He seems mortified by the possibility that Madoka would see straight through that lie, since of course, Homura was right there in the room.

“Oh…” Madoka says quietly. She looks down, disappointed and concerned.

Homura is so upset by Madoka’s worry alone, that she starts (almost-silently) stumbling over her words again in an attempt to tell her.

Unfortunately, Madoka was relatively quick to recover — unbeknownst to Homura, resolving in her mind to keep looking for her, of course — and she manages to react before Homura could speak up.

Madoka looks between Kyousuke and Homura before smiling sheepishly.

“…Are you two dating, by chance?” Madoka asks.

Homura just gawks at her, totally distressed by the implication.

“Uh,” Kyousuke says, intelligently.

Homura looks at him, gritting her teeth in distress and anger. _If you DARE say such a thing—_

Kyousuke looks between them slowly, wondering how Homura could be more intimidating as a person than as a dragon.

“…Um… No…” Kyousuke replies. At Homura’s intensified glare — _be nice to Madoka!!_ — he forces a trembling smile, laughing weakly.

Homura looks back at Madoka, nervous that she could have caught on; she _almost_ thought she saw a tiny flicker of relief in Madoka’s eyes.

_Why would she be relieved—_

Madoka hums happily in response to that, turning to Homura again. She tips her head with a friendly smile before introducing herself.

“I’m Kaname Madoka; but you can just call me Madoka.” The smile somehow gets bigger. “What’s your name?”

Homura feels her stomach drop.

“…My name?” The corners of Homura’s mouth pull into a very thin, forced smile. “I—…it’s…”

Madoka just smiles pleasantly, waiting for her to finish.

Homura gets overwhelmed from being under Madoka’s gaze, and chokes out the first thing that comes to mind, instead.

“M…Madoka…” Homura mumbles, flushing from embarrassment.

Madoka pauses for a beat.

“Eh?!” Madoka looks shocked. “We have the same name?! That’s unusual!” She considers for a moment, looking thoughtful. “…It must be more popular than I thought it was…”

Madoka doesn’t catch the look of distress plainly showing on Homura’s face.

_No… that’s not what I meant, Madoka!_

“N…no, it’s not…” Homura manages to say out loud.

Madoka looks up at her, surprised for a moment before it’s replaced with that effortlessly charming smile again. (Homura flushes right on cue.) Madoka laughs cheerfully.

“Ehehe. So what _is_ your name, then?” Madoka asks.

Homura almost grimaces. Her newly-human body was sweating profusely. She’s trembling from the stress of attempting to keep such a secret.

…Well, the truth had to come out, then… There wasn’t any avoiding it.

“It’s… H…Homura…” Homura finally says.

Madoka pauses again before breaking out in a large smile.

“Really?” Madoka exclaims, happily. Homura looks up in timid surprise.

_Is Madoka happy that I transformed, then?…_

“That’s so funny! I actually have a friend with the same name! I was just looking for her!” Madoka says before laughing happily. She’s so delighted by that, she entirely misses the look of total dismay on Homura’s face. (Much less Kyousuke’s, still sitting in the background, awkwardly watching this conversation.)

_…She doesn’t get it._

“Ah… I… see…” Homura says awkwardly. She has no idea what to say.

“Well…” Madoka begins, looking thoughtful. “I should be going soon, since I have to keep looking for Homura-chan…”

Homura makes a vaguely dismayed face, since of course, she had already been found. Madoka interprets it as confusion. “Ah, sorry! Not you, but _my_ Homura… Eheh.”

‘Her’ Homura just begins sweating harder, turning redder at Madoka’s choice of words. “Y-your…”

Madoka hums in agreement. “Yep. She’s a _biiiig,_ long _—_ ” Madoka stretching her arms out to indicate the size. “—dragon with lavender fur. She’s really cute and sweet, and a good friend of mine!”

Every offhanded compliment that Madoka is unknowingly throwing in her direction is only making Homura more of a nervous wreck. _Cute— She said we’re good friends, too…_

“I-I see.” Homura says again. Despite herself, she can’t help being happy from being complimented, and can’t hide the tiny smile on her face.

Madoka looks surprised for a moment at her reaction, before she ends up smiling in return. Bursting with excitement, she steps forward and grabs Homura’s hand in both of hers. (Homura bites down a shriek of embarrassment/excitement.)

“Hey,” Madoka’s eyes are shining. “If you’re not busy, wanna help me look for her?” She gives a small shrug, giggling happily. “I’d probably have better luck finding Homura-chan with another Homura on the search!”

Homura smiles back blankly.

_That can’t be further from the truth, Madoka._

Homura really had every intention of saying no. Rather, _no, you’re looking at her, Madoka._

But between Madoka’s bright, pleading smile and her holding Homura’s hand; there was no way Homura could win. She shoots a fleeting glance between Madoka and the floor and gives a tiny, shy nod.

Madoka breaks into a delighted grin, moving to hold Homura’s hand with just one of her own.

“Alright! It’s a date, then.” Madoka says.

Homura gawks at her, turns an even deeper shade of red. Madoka notices, that time. She just smiles at Homura, giggles cheerfully to herself.

“I’ll see you later, Kyousuke-kun!” Madoka waves to Kyousuke. He seems surprised to be involved in the conversation again. “We’re going to go look for Homura-chan. I hope we find her soon!”

Homura and Kyousuke exchange a look.

“G…good luck, Madoka.” Kyousuke says weakly.

_She’ll need it…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're fucking gay.


	7. Closeness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madoka and Homura both adjust to Homura's new form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't write a transition between the last part and this one apparently HAHAHA  
> just know that homura told madoka and sayaka probably yelled at both of them and pulled out some of her hair. poor thing.

Madoka was almost ready for bed. Brushing out her long hair took a while, so she saved it for last; sitting at her vanity and running a brush through the long tresses, humming quietly.

The sight of the door opening in the vanity mirror surprised her. She turns, expecting to see Sayaka — she popped in sometimes to check on her before bed… but she _did_ always knock before coming in, so it was kind of strange.

But it was Homura, instead. The newly-human Homura, wearing the pajamas that Madoka had suggested she would look cute in (and she did; the soft purple suited her), who Madoka maybe, sort-of had a crush on. Or something.

"H-Homura!" Madoka yelps, standing from the vanity's bench. She smiles nervously when Homura turns from closing the door behind her, looking over at Madoka with her usual unreadable expression.

Madoka may have been in her pajamas too, so the informal dress level was the same — but having Homura pop up unexpectedly in her bedroom left her feeling a little exposed in addition to her flustered nerves.

“What’s the matter? Do you need anything?” Madoka asks, smiling as she tries to squash her nerves down; they come out through her wringing the brush in her hands.

Homura just gives her a curious look at the offer.

“No… I was just going to sleep.”

“Oh.” Madoka said. She was confused by that vague statement, but after a moment, she gleans the meaning. “Oh! Uh, sleep—to go to sleep in here?” Her voice drops to a squeak. “…with me?”

Homura just nods, unfazed. Her composed expression is a stark contrast to Madoka’s flustered one, with her face quickly turning pink on top of that.

 _Aah… It's only natural she would come back to sleep in here, since she always slept here when she was a dragon, but…_ Madoka thinks. _Sleeping in the s-same room— no, the same_ ** _bed_** _as her?!— I might get overwhelmed…_

Madoka's thoughts were starting to spin out when Homura's voice interrupted her.

“What’s wrong?”

Madoka’s shoulders jump in surprise – Homura is looking at her, head tilted just slightly in a curious gesture. (She tries not to go overboard in thinking that was cute.)

“Um, it’s just… w-wouldn’t you rather sleep in your own room?” Madoka said, punctuating the offer with a nervous laugh.

Homura’s face fell just slightly.

“…I apologize. If I’m being a bother, I’ll leave.”

And she obviously meant that, because Homura turned to leave immediately. Madoka stifles a distressed squawk; she hadn't meant to do that at all!

"I m-mean—" Madoka yelps. Homura pauses to look at her, her hand still on the doorknob. "It's fine to sleep here, too! If you want!"

Madoka trails off into nervous laughter, hoping Homura wouldn't scrutinize the reason for her bright-pink face too closely.

Thankfully, Homura just accepts it, brightening at the offer. Right away, she nonchalantly went to the large bed and slipped under the covers.

Madoka turns to replace the hairbrush at her vanity, attempting to calm herself by _not_ staring at Homura for a minute.

 _It'll be fine!_ Madoka assures herself. _S_ _he's the same—_ Madoka squints as she thinks that technically, Homura was a _dragon_ before. Technically still was. _—err,_ ** _person_** _... that she was before, nothing changed, so... It'll be like sleeping with her before._

Homura looked over from where she had gotten comfortable in the thick blankets and soft sheets. She considered the usually, Madoka would always want to get cozy in bed quickly, and sleep as much as possible… the Princess was afflicted with busy days and early mornings, after all. But Madoka had just been standing there, for a little while.

"Madoka," Homura calls quietly.

Madoka stifles a yelp of surprise, whirling around to face Homura; bright pink on account that she was interrupted from her thoughts by the person she was thinking about to begin with.

"Y-yeah! What is it?"

Homura pats once at the quilt, as though to indicate that it really was comfortable. "Are you going to come to bed?"

Madoka smiled weakly, that innocently-chosen, but poor phrasing making her face go hot. "Y-yes."

Madoka puts out the light and gets under the covers right after — but she gives Homura a large breadth of space under the blankets, lying on the opposite edge of the bed from her.

Trying (and failing) to steady her breathing, Madoka stayed quiet for a few moments, prepping herself to be able to _calmly_ say good night.

"Madoka…"

…but then Homura is calling her name again, quietly over her shoulder. Madoka's tenuous cool is lost, replaced with just a bright-pink face she's _very_ grateful Homura can't see in the dark. (Or, well, over her shoulder.)

"Y-yeah?"

Madoka shifts in bed only to see that Homura had almost bridged the gap between them, and was sitting up a little in bed. Madoka's brain goes mildly haywire because Homura is _so close_.

"Is it alright if I lay a bit closer?…" Homura asks tentatively. "It's a little cold on that side of the bed, in this body..."

Madoka stammers incomprehensibly for a second. "I, um— yeah! Of course!"

"Okay."

"I-if you're cold, we could, uh..." Madoka's voice drops to a mumble, as she wonders how far is too much to push. "...cuddle, maybe."

"...cuddle?" Homura repeats. From her usual blank tone it was hard to tell how she felt about the suggestion; Madoka assumes it meant _'idea rejected'!_

"We d-don't have to! If you don't want— I'm s-sorry I asked—"

"No, I'd... I would enjoy that, I just don't know how to with, um. These," Homura waves her arms slightly in the dark. "...as a human, I mean."

"O-oh. Right."

Madoka considers that they _did_ take a lot of naps together when Homura was a dragon, so maybe it wasn't that strange to request it. ( _She did say she'd_ ** _enjoy_** _it…)_

But it would be different from napping in the coils of a tame, cuddly dragon. Mostly that Homura was now human, and sexuality-questioningly attractive.

"Ah— um, r-right. I'll show you, I guess..."

"Sure."

It takes them a few awkward moments to figure it out — shuffling closer on the bed; Madoka leading Homura along with stammered instructions about how they should be positioned. Homura ended up pressed cozily against Madoka's back, their legs loosely touching; but her arms still hung in front of her, not completing the embrace. Madoka peeks shyly over her shoulder.

"O-okay, and… just put your hand…"

Madoka hesitates over the direction, flushing pink despite herself. (It was just on her _waist_ , it was just a _hug_ for goodness' sake— okay, spooning and sleeping in the same bed was a little more intimate than a hug.)

"…where?" Homura asks, more drowsy than before. Madoka squirms with guilt, wanting to get Homura situated in a timely manner so the poor girl could actually _sleep_.

If she couldn't spit it out, best to just show her, then.

Madoka turns over slightly — it doesn't escape her notice that they're _even_ closer like that — and gently takes Homura's hand, guiding it into place, with Homura's bottom arm laying underneath her stomach, and her other hand resting lightly on her waist. Homura allows her arms to be led along easily, even if she was a little awkward over the unfamiliar contact, and her movements were dulled by sleepiness.

Once that was finished, Madoka settled down more into Homura's arms — as much as she could without overheating from embarrassment, anyway. It was pretty cozy, actually…

"Like that…" Madoka mumbled, shifting a little. "Are you comfortable?"

"…Hm?" Homura mumbled back, still sleepy. "…oh. Yes, I am. It's much warmer this way."

Madoka blinks, thinking that it was the same for her. The warmth in her face was not from sharing body heat, though. "Ah, I s-see… umm, if your arm falls asleep, or you get uncomfortable, you can always move if you want…"

"I'm fine," Homura said softly. She blinks a few times, growing more drowsy by the moment. "Do you do this a lot?…"

"D-do what?" Madoka asks nervously, caught off-guard. (Did she befriend dragons, and then seduce them post-human transformation to snuggle platonically with her? …Because she didn't do that a lot.)

"...cuddling?" Homura said, as if she were hazarding a guess at remembering.

As soon as Madoka opens her mouth to answer, Homura shifts the position of her long legs, unintentionally brushing them closer to Madoka's in the process. Madoka stammers blankly, ducking her head as her face turned pink. (Not that Homura could really _see_ her face, in the dark or facing the back of Madoka's head.)

"N-no, not… really…" Madoka mumbles.

"Really?…" Homura said blearily, humming thoughtfully. Madoka makes a nervous, noncommittal sound back.

The closer Homura was to sleep, the closer her face was to sinking into Madoka's long hair, to the back of her neck. The soft, even lulls of her breathing are warm against Madoka's back.

Madoka's heart drummed wildly out of nervousness; those almost-touches were all unintentional, since Homura _was_ falling asleep… but Madoka almost found herself anxiously anticipating them. (Honestly, if Homura were to hug her a little tighter than she was, she wouldn't even mind…)

Those unexpected thoughts and anticipation caused Madoka a small spike of _"oh no, too gay!"_ panic.

"W-well, it's not anything _weird!_ " Madoka blurts loudly. Homura's arms jerk slightly around her in surprise; Madoka feels yet another barb of guilt for startling and waking Homura up _again_ — she would never get to sleep with this much vigilant _no homo_ denial.

"Weird?…" Homura said hazily, confused; she's only parroting back every last word Madoka said, now. "Like what…"

Madoka half-addressed the question, her voice trembling. "Y-you know, it's… just something friends do together, it's n-nothing special! It's completely platonic, really!"

That was true, even; just not entirely for Madoka in that particular situation.

Madoka was a pitiful liar, and it would have been transparent to anyone… other than Homura — who, either because it applied to her; because she readily believed Madoka; or because out of sheer grogginess, not recognizing the overly-specific denial as telling — took it very sincerely.

"…oh."

Even though she was still tired, Homura's quiet tone made her crestfallen reaction obvious.

Whether it was the insistence of the act being unimportant, or specifying it was _just_ platonic that bruised Homura's feelings, Madoka wasn't sure; but her heart sinks over the change in tone.

"Ah— I m-mean, um…"

Madoka freezes up, stumbling over what to say. Homura changing had been confusing, and this wasn't necessarily helping un-confuse her. But she didn't want Homura to have her feelings hurt, she didn't want to lie… she didn't want to divulge the creeping suspicion that her feelings towards Homura may not be entirely as platonic as she claimed, either. (Madoka assured herself that at the 'worst', it was just a crush, nothing major…)

But there was at least an attempt that would address all of that.

Madoka swallows her anxiety and places a trembling hand over Homura's, whose fingers tense at the unexpected contact.

"…Madoka?" Homura said, her voice lilting with surprise.

Madoka turns over in Homura's arms, to be able to face her and speak more easily.

"I misspoke earlier when I said that doing this wasn't..." Special, but Madoka trails off for a moment. Her tone changes from slight distress to wan nostalgia.

"I used to cuddle with Sayaka-chan, you know? When we were kids... but then we got older, and we didn't really do it anymore." A sad smile quirks onto her lips.

 "...But in all honesty, I sort of missed it. Cuddling and taking naps with you before was so fun—" Homura turns pink at that, totally unbeknownst to Madoka. "—but I enjoy this a lot, too. It's... for something like very close friends, so I... consider you a close friend of mine, Homura-chan..."

Homura doesn't know what else to say to this information, and even if she were fully awake, her responses wouldn't be much better. "...I see..."

Madoka doesn't know what to make of the short, vague reply to her blabbing of feelings. "Y-yeah."

After a few moments of silence between them — with Homura thinking, and Madoka ruminating on how super dumb this entire thing and everything she had said was, and if only laying with Homura was not so comfortable, she would jump up right now and spare them both all the embarrassment...

And Madoka was starting to really consider getting up until Homura returned holding her hand, gently turning her hand so that she could lace her fingers loosely with Madoka's. (Madoka is bright red, and too flustered to say a word — Homura's face is still very close to her's.)

"...thank you."

Madoka can only squeak out a soft 'eh?' of confusion. 

"I— appreciate that you would call me your close friend, Madoka." Even through the slightly sleepy blur in Homura's speech, Madoka could tell she was heartfelt. "...I can't say it well, but I consider you a dear person to me, too..."

"H-Homura—"

This sentiment paired with their proximity and mutual hand-holding is enough to threaten Madoka to overload totally. Madoka blushes heavier than before as her thoughts start to spiral out.

"…Madoka, are you okay?" Homura asks, out of nowhere. Despite still being sleepy, an edge of concern bleeds into her tone.

"Y-yep!" Madoka squeaks out, trying to compose herself. "Just fine! W-why?…"

"Your hands are clammy," Homura said, still concerned.

Madoka realizes with dismay that her hands are sweating; out of sheer nervousness, she was certain. Of course that would happen when she held hands with Homura, of all times. Madoka is ready to recoil with embarrassment; maybe go wash her hands, dunk her head in a bucket of water to _calm down,_ even…

"And—"

Homura pulls her hand gently loose from Madoka's, replacing it on her forehead. Madoka blushes fiercely, eyes going wide.

"H-Homura—?!" She squawks.

Homura is quiet and unmoving for a moment. "…I thought so... It _seemed_ like you were too warm. It could be a fever... do you feel ill, Madoka?"

Madoka couldn't really explain that those 'symptoms' were only of her being flustered around Homura.

"N-no, I don't think I have a fever…" Madoka said weakly. Even if it was the truth, it didn't sound convincing even to her ears.

Homura is not convinced. She hums, thinking and worried over the potential fever, moving her hand to check Madoka's temperature elsewhere — gently cupping her cheek, and lightly pressing her fingers to her neck. Both were _warm_ , but not really hot enough to warrant a feverish temperature. Homura lingered on the pulse point, frowning in concern as she noticed Madoka's pulse was high and her breathing shallow, too.

She must really have a terrible fever, huh.

Of course, Madoka wasn't sick at all, but she _was_ flustered and tongue-tied on account of Homura being very _intently_ in her personal space — even if it was to innocently check for an imaginary fever.

"Um, H-Homura-chan…” Madoka starts. _You don’t have to do that, since I’m actually totally fine, but you don’t need to stop necessarily_ —

"I'll go get Tomoe Mami," Homura said, shifting to get out of bed. "She'll be able to treat you and get you medicine…"

"N-NO—" Madoka yelps, grabbing onto the sleeve of Homura's pajamas to hold her there.

Homura waits as she was asked; being sleepy and comfortable, she was tempted to stay cozy in bed, but she couldn’t help but be concerned. “But…”

“I’m don’t have a fever,” Madoka said. “I feel fine. I promise.”

She didn’t want Homura running off to find Mami, for a few reasons. A main one being that Mami was savvy enough to catch on to what they were doing immediately — or maybe even assume they were doing more than cuddling. (Madoka didn't even think Mami would judge; but she couldn't survive the embarrassment of her mentor chuckling good-naturedly, shooing herself out of the room and apologizing for _interrupting_ them.)

Homura was still worried despite her assurances. “If you’re sure… but if you start feeling worse, may I bring her here?...”

Madoka held back a nervous laugh, knowing that she wouldn't start feeling more physically ill. But reassuring Homura so that she would be able to sleep, and stay right where she was, was what Madoka wanted anyway.

"Yes, that's fine." Madoka said, smiling sheepishly. "But I feel okay, really. You don't need to worry."

Homura breathes a small, but audible sigh of relief. "…Good."

With that word, she sinks back into the mattress. When Madoka lies down again as well, Homura resumes their spooning position from before without the need for Madoka's instruction.

Madoka stammers under her breath, turning pink; Homura didn't usually show initiative towards her. Homura loosely closing her own hands around her stomach in a hug, and sleepily resting her head on Madoka's neck only makes matters worse.

Despite Madoka's flustered state, she was very comfortable in Homura's arms; being held gently like that as she was falling asleep led to her feeling very protected and cared for. Hearing Homura's relaxed breathing and heartbeat was oddly soothing, too.

She lay there for a few moments, before it jumped into her consciousness that she should say goodnight.

“Um, H-Homura-chan…”

Homura doesn’t respond; Madoka takes it for her usual taciturn nature. She focuses her gaze at the bedsheets, curling one of the shorter locks of hair around her finger nervously; trying not to focus too hard on the warmth of Homura’s body around hers.

“I’m glad that you… went ahead and did the transformation with Kyousuke-kun. We haven’t been able to talk a lot, but it’s nice to be able to, y-you know…” A pause; Homura says nothing, so Madoka keeps rambling nervously. “Or, um! It’s nice that you slept in here! _N-not_ because of anything _weird,_ I just, uh— might have been a little lonely... or something like that… u-um.”

By the end of this speech, Madoka had her face in her hands out of mortification. Said face was roughly as pink as her hair.

After a few extended moments of silence, Madoka decided that even for her awkward rambling, Homura was being _very_ quiet.

She shifted slightly to look over her shoulder, trying to gauge Homura’s reaction; it was a little hard to do that in the dark, but the total lack of _any_ reaction made her wonder...

“...Homura-chan, are you asleep?”

Only the soft rhythm of Homura’s breathing answered her. Homura had finally drifted off after being on the edge of sleep for so long, it seemed.

Madoka wasn’t sure whether it was better off that Homura hadn’t been awake to hear her rattle on, or not.

“Jeez, Homura-chan...” Madoka mumbles.

Madoka settles down in bed, too; sighing softly, feeling her eyes drift close from tiredness. The long day, her nervousness and mental gymnastics had all worn her out.

Homura suddenly hugging her closer in her sleep makes Madoka squeak in surprise, before that dissolves into sheepish giggling. She smiles contently, leaning into the hug.

“...Good night, Homura-chan.”

* * *

Homura wakes, as usual, to the sound of chattering birds outside the window, and sunlight trickling in through the panes and stretching across the floor. She was a hard sleeper -- or had been since coming to the castle, anyway -- but those _birds_ always woke her.

Or at least they did temporarily, before Madoka woke her up by cheerfully announcing the time and drawing back the curtains to assail her fully with morning light.

“...noisy,” she groans under her breath.

Noisy, and it was colder than usual, too; Homura burrows under the covers, belligerent against the morning in general.

But the person laying with her body close to hers was helping, with at least the cold. Homura leans her head groggily against Madoka’s, her eyes still closed as she drifted in and out of sleep.

 _Madoka’s warm,_ Homura thinks blearily. _She smells nice..._

_...wait, what..._

It takes Homura a moment to process fully, seeing how she was just waking up; but once she realizes the situation, it jolts her into full alertness in seconds.

They had been… _hugging_ , Homura remembers, of course; but Madoka had definitely been turned the other way around, before… She had perhaps turned over while sleeping, and was curled with her head lying against Homura’s chest. Her eyes still closed in sleep; her frame rising and falling with slow, regular breaths; her long hair tousled in an unruly pink bedhead.

Homura felt paralyzed; trapped between not wanting to wake Madoka, or to go douse herself in cold water. (...or to just lie back down with her, and go back to sleep.)

“M-Madoka--” Homura stammers automatically, slightly panicked.

Madoka just makes a soft, sleepy murmur against her chest at the slight noise disturbance. Homura swallows; her hands had jumped from where they had been hugging around Madoka’s waist, and still hovered stiffly around her, unsure of where to put them. Homura blinked faintly, her face pink.

“Mado…”

Madoka responds to this halfhearted attempt at waking her by hugging Homura closely around the stomach. The rest of her name was cut off in a tiny, muffled shriek from Homura.

Homura's face completely red, she did her best to keep completely quiet as she lay rigidly on the bed.

This was bound to be a difficult morning.


	8. Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyouko decides to take Homura out for a night on the town. It goes terribly.

One time, Kyouko insisted on taking Homura out for a night on the town. (Her "insisting" was more like 'accosting Homura in the hallway'.)

"You might be human now, but you're still _boring_ ," Kyouko whines. "All you do is either hang out with Madoka. Or wait for Madoka to get back from doing a thing."

"…That's not true." Homura huffs. "I've been reading in the library, too—"

"Exactly! Thank you for agreeing with me! It's all nerd stuff. Which is why you're coming with _me_ to do something _cool_."

Homura just gives her a disgusted look.

* * *

"Drink this."

Kyouko is pushing a shotglass into her hands. Homura closes her fingers around it, so not to drop it on the floor.

She stares at the amber liquid swirling jaggedly around. Of course, she hadn't touched alcohol as a dragon for lack of access to it, and was only tangentially familiar with it.

Homura raises her eyebrows in well-deserved suspicion. "What is this?"

"Just drink it." Kyouko said, before returning to her own, larger glass. After taking a long sip, she peers over to where Homura was eying her skeptically. Kyouko gives her a slightly drunken laugh.

"Okay, look, look. That'll loosen you up. Make you not so grumpy or nervous or whatever it is you're doing— whatever _that_ is—" Kyouko gestures vaguely at Homura's stiff, straight posture. "—so that you can maybe not be a total stick in the mud, and lighten up. If that's possible."

Homura squints at her, considers the 'nervous' bit, and lifts the glass hesitantly. She almost jerks it away upon getting close enough to smell, if doing so wouldn't mean spilling it all over her lap.

"It smells awful," Homura observes flatly. Kyouko sighs at her.

"Don't be such a buzzkill. Drink with me!" Kyouko pokes a finger at their bread bowl, looking for crumbs. (She got them already.) "Maybe you'll have some fun, and bringing you here won't have been a total loss."

Homura knows she shouldn't fall for the guilt trip. She doesn't, she convinces herself.

The reason she eventually takes a thin sip of the liquid (only to get scolded by Kyouko into tossing it back all at once) was totally her own, and not influenced by peer pressure at all.

 

* * *

 

When Madoka finds out, her mild fretting turns to aggressive worrying. This meant dragging Mami and Sayaka in to 'help', i.e. prepare for a search and rescue — which they were attempting to talk her down from.

"Kaname-san, please calm down…" Mami implores. "If she's with Sakura-san, she'll be alright."

Sayaka is more flippant. "She's _fine_. Even in the worst case, she's still a _dragon_. If anything was going to happen to her, she'd just set people on fire."

Madoka shoots them a dismayed glance from where she was hovering around the window, in an attempt to see when the pair in question would return.

"But… w-what if they get separated? Homura-chan doesn't know her way around, and I don't think she likes crowds, either… And even if it's true she can change back, she's vulnerable like this! She could be in danger, you know!" Madoka looks distressed, turning towards the window again. "Because she's small and cute…"

Sayaka and Mami share a look. (Sayaka's of total exasperation at the 'cute' comment being directed towards Homura.) Mami tries again.

"Kaname-san… If it's with Kyouko, I'm sure all they're doing is going to bars, eating and drinking." Her comforting smile thins out somewhat. "Since that's her _hobby_ of sorts, she has quite a tolerance… She'll be a good bodyguard, I'm sure."

Realization clicks in Madoka's wide eyes. "Drinking…" She brings her hand to her mouth, whining worriedly. "I didn't even think about alcohol poisoning…"

That had backfired horribly.

 

* * *

 

Kyouko rounds the corner. The sight of Homura sitting slumped over on the less-than-clean floor takes the wind out of her sails.

"Jesus, what's wrong with you?" Kyouko sets their next round of drinks (plus Kyouko's food) on the table. "What are you doing on the _floor_?"

Homura just groans in response, trying to burrow her head further in her crossed arms.

Kyouko leans down, giving Homura a small, slightly-concerned shake on the shoulder. Maybe hard liquor wasn't the best way to start, considering she _was_ a tiny little thing as a human… That, and she probably had no tolerance for alcohol, seeming as how she never tried it. Oops.

"Oi. Homura." Kyouko tries shaking her slightly harder. Agonized sigh for effect, because caring about dorks would destroy her reputation. "Are you okay?…"

Homura finally lifts her head. Her eyes are puffy and red, her nose is running, there are tears and oh god she's totally crying, isn't she.

 _"No."_ She murmurs slowly, sniffling. "Nothing's _okay."_

"Uh." Kyouko said, intelligently. "Do you want… water or something…"

Homura stares at her like she was considering that. Slowly. Then she sobs pitifully and bursts into tears.

"No. I want M _ado_ ka…" Another sob, along with generally looking miserable. "I wish she was here…"

Kyouko gives a small glance to the slightly-seedy bar they were in, and considers that Madoka probably wouldn't fit in too well there. Homura was sort of fitting in; as far as being drunk, anyway. Granted, everyone else was still in their chairs, having a good time, and not crying their eyes out.

Speaking of which, Homura just starts crying harder, and feebly clings onto Kyouko's chest. Kyouko startles, feeling a second of self-consciousness as they started to get some looks. She waves her hands slightly as if to say,  _"No, no, she's just drunk - like, I'm full homo, and she's hot and whatever, but clearly she's a lightweight nerd loser!"_ (Yes, it was communicated with just a wave.)

Homura was still just sobbing and carrying on like the world was ending today. She was getting snot on Kyouko's shirt, too. Kyouko sighs. Stretches to the tabletop to get her drink and nurse it.

Well, this had gone terribly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, codependent homura-chan~


	9. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homura confesses something to Madoka.

Homura wandered the halls of the castle alone, feeling strangely content.

Maybe it was her newly-human form that had spurred the change? It was certainly an _adjustment,_ and still wasn’t entirely comfortable in her own skin; but the best side-effect had been being able to speak with Madoka.

* * *

 

 

_“Princess, I’m sure you know why we’ve asked you here today…”_

Homura stops.

“I have an idea,” Madoka said; she sounds uncharacteristically worn. “…but please, enlighten me, Councilor.”

She shouldn’t listen in, but…

 _Why does it sound like Madoka’s in_ ** _trouble_** _?…_ Homura frowns as she listens more carefully.

The man who spoke before sighs. “Frankly, we’re worried. You’ve been skirting your duties— missing out on meetings, for one; and even the ones you _do_ attend you seem to leave early…”

That statement hangs in the air for a moment, no one speaking; Homura shifts uncomfortably from the hallway, knowing that of course that was true. Honestly, Madoka always seemed to be running out on them to spend time with her; though she did mention that she had always found them unnecessary and stiflingly boring. In the present, Madoka said nothing to defend herself or deny the accusation.

Another council member speaks up to fill the air. “It all started when Her Highness started taking care of that _dragon_ , but even after it left, you took that girl in instead…”

Through a mounting feeling of dread, Homura finds a small, dry humor in their misunderstanding. Not realizing that she and _that dragon_ were one and the same, it must really seem like Madoka just picked up strays wherever. (Granted, it wouldn’t necessarily be out of character for her…)

“You mean Homura.” Madoka corrects sharply. “She has a _name_. You would do well to learn it.”

The council member stammers out a hasty apology; Madoka says nothing in response. Homura’s eyes are wide from the other side of the door.

Was Madoka really that defensive over her? Homura was so used to being scorned and disliked that it barely registered anymore, but Madoka… seemed to shut down every slight towards her with no room for argument. She didn’t even stand up for herself like that.

Another member speaks.

“Of course, Your Highness. We mean no disrespect to you or Akemi Homura. But we do believe there’s a correlation between you spending time with her, and with her Highness’… lowered participation in her duties.”

Madoka’s voice is small. It’s hard to tell if she’s on the edge of anger or bursting into tears. “Just what are you trying to say?”

“We would request that Your Highness spend less time with her. Considering that she isn’t from a family with any particular political influence, we cannot imagine that there’s any real benefit from the time spent.”

* * *

Mami, as usual, is sitting in on the council meeting — but this is the first time she’s squirming uncomfortably on Madoka’s behalf.

The mood in the room is stifled and tense, with everyone seemingly too nervous to say anything. Mami looks across the table to where Madoka was sitting — fingers steepled, expression almost blank as she thought.

“…Counciler Satoi.” Madoka says, eventually. The person she was addressing jumps slightly in his seat.

If he’s nervous, he does well to hide it. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“May I ask what your job is? Or rather,” Madoka settles back against the high-backed chair, propping her hand against her chin in an almost bored gesture. “…what the job of this council is?”

The usually well-spoken man stammers. “W-well, it’s… to advise her Highness to taking the best course of action, of course.”

“Of course.” Madoka repeats. She lets a dead silence hang in the air before speaking up again. “…to ‘ _advise_ ’. In financial, or political matters. In other words, telling me what to do with my personal time… would be quite out of place, right?”

Several people make scrambling efforts to speak at once, but Satoi manages to speak. “But, Your Highness!—”

Madoka cuts them off; despite her tone being polite, softer than before. “Let me be clear; the council’s concerns are valid. I’ll make sure my attendance for our meetings goes up.”

“—However.”

“ _Homura_ has nothing to do with this. Don’t drag her into it. I will not tolerate any criticism towards her — or that I choose to spend time with her."

* * *

“Kaname-san…” Mami sighs as she pulls the doors to the conference room shut.

“Well… someone thinks they may have seen Akemi-san here… it’s possible that she could have overheard the meeting, if it really was her.”

Madoka’s expression softens immediately, turning concerned.

"Homura-chan..."

* * *

Homura runs.

Her human body is not particularly used to physical activity, however; so by the time she gets to the gardens, it’s a stumbling half-jog with her gasping for breath.

All she had on her mind was how Madoka was in trouble because of her, _always_ seemed to be in trouble because of her—

With her being upset and not paying attention, Homura accidentally collides with someone; bumping her shoulder into one of the castle’s many gardeners.

“I— I’m sorry—” Homura gasps out, dismayed that she had carelessly done such a thing. But they seem to intentionally ignore her, walking away quickly.

Homura stares after their disappearing figure before letting her gaze drop.

_…Of course._

It only made sense that to some degree, she would be ostracized or simply disliked. Having seemingly just _shown up_ out of nowhere, only to have time and attention lavished on her by the princess and her inner circle, showing favoritism for no apparent reason… without even getting to Homura’s shy demeanor and blunt way of speaking; or the fact that sometimes she was a dragon. (Not that the majority of people even knew the connection between the two.)

Homura wanders to one of her favorite spots; a low wooden bridge stretched over a creek, shaded by willow trees. The edges of the stream were thronged with azaleas and cherry blossoms — Madoka’s favorites, as they all bloomed in shades of pink. It being a beautiful, secluded area would usually calm her, but it failed to have that effect on her now.

Then again, she had always visited it with Madoka before; so maybe it wasn’t the area at all that had calmed her, to begin with.

Homura stands on the bridge and stares out at the water, feeling as though she might cry.

It wasn’t the fact that she was being criticized, or disliked — it may have hurt to some degree, but it was in such a faraway place that it didn’t bother her. (Too much.)

The idea of her causing trouble for Madoka was much, much worse. Homura gasps and fights back tears.

It had been at the back of her mind; it was there when Madoka confessed that the council had been worried for her safety, (because of her); it was there when Madoka had been kidnapped, and she had been forced to see her do something terrible— and even after that, Madoka still accepted her back without fear; it was there when some of Sayaka’s criticisms hit home more, not just complaining that she was a dragon, but that she was a _danger_ to Madoka, that even just by accident, she could hurt her—

Homura grits her teeth, gripping the wooden railing of the bridge tighter. She could barely stand to even _think_ of such a thing.

Sayaka had made perfectly clear that if any harm came to Madoka, she would take Homura on herself, but… Homura was quite certain if she was the cause of it, Sayaka wouldn’t get the chance to hurt her before she hurt herself.

Even setting that possibility aside — Madoka was physically safer with Homura as a human, after all —

_“Homura-chan!”_

 

Homura snaps her head upwards at the sudden voice; Madoka is there, and running to meet her on the bridge.

“…Madoka.” Homura replies quietly, almost automatic. She feels exposed, suddenly, with _her_ there — she rubs at her face furtively, worried there could be traces of tears, still.

The princess is in quite a state — she picked up the hem of her long dress, hefted it into her arms so that she could move without tripping; it was certainly improper, but the sweat dripping from her brow and her breathing hard from having run the entire way there would probably be considered improper, too. Granted, there was no one beside the two of them in the entire garden to judge.

Madoka doesn’t care how she looks. She’s happy to have found Homura; so much so, that she nearly forgot why she chased after her to begin with. She smiles wide, letting her dress fall back around her ankles. She stops several feet away from Homura; not close, not far.

“I finally found you!” Madoka says, laughing sheepishly. She presses a hand to her heart, still beating hard from the effort, and exhales in a contented sigh. “I’m glad I was able to catch up to you…”

Any small happiness that Homura may have taken in knowing that Madoka was looking for her… was quickly squashed by guilt over that very thing. Homura fumbles with her hands, gazing at Madoka nervously.

“I thought you were… in a meeting.” Homura says quietly.

“Ah…” Madoka gives a small, self-depreciating laugh. “I was. I cut it a little short, though, and had Mami-san take over for me…”

Homura swallows, gripping the bridge’s wooden parapet. The guilt only gets heavier. “…I see.”

Madoka watches her carefully. She wondered if she should bring it up herself, or—

Homura looks down at the creek, her breath catching in her throat.

“…Can I tell you something?” Homura asks, quietly; any louder and it would threaten to crack.

Madoka’s face creases in concern at her apparent distress, but a wan smile flicks onto her face. She supposed it was better if Homura brought up the meeting herself.

“Of course, Homura.” Madoka’s tone is as gentle as the water running smoothly beneath them. She gives Homura a small, reassuring smile. “Anything.”

Homura holds her gaze for just a moment more; that was the most she could take, without the dam bursting; of guilt, of a terrible affection for her—

“I actually… overheard, part of that meeting.” The confession spills out in a rush of words. Homura shoots Madoka a guilty look. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop… I’m sorry.”

Madoka shakes her head. She already knew about it, but she wouldn’t blame Homura even if this was new information.

“No, it’s… you’re fine, don’t worry about it.” Madoka says. Her face falls. “…though, I’m sorry that you had to hear that. They don’t know what they’re talking about, about you—”

“It’s not just about that.” Homura interrupts. “This has been bothering me for a while, now…”

Madoka falls silent. She blinks down at her feet, upset with herself for having missed something that was upsetting Homura that much. “…What’s the matter?”

Homura is quiet. She can’t look Madoka in the eye.

Why did Madoka calling her name like that hurt so much?

“I’m just a burden on you, Madoka.” Homura spits it out in a harsh, cold tone. “I shouldn’t even be here.”

Madoka looks as though she had been slapped.

“Wh… no you aren’t!” Madoka cries. Homura is reminded of the meeting, of Madoka shutting down anyone that attempted to criticize her. “What are you talking about?…”

“I’m… what I really am… it’s dangerous to you.” Homura grimaces, looking down at her own trembling hands; hands that weren’t supposed to be that way to begin with. “Even if I’m like this now… this body is just a fake. I don’t fit into your world at all, Madoka… I’m not good enough for you.”

Madoka looks miserable. “Homura-chan… That’s not…”

Homura felt tears pricking at the corners of her vision. She felt absolutely awful; in admitting all this, and in upsetting Madoka. Despite that, a tiny, wan smile breaks onto her features.

“Even so, I… started to care for you.” Homura looks up, smiling through her tears. “You were kind to me… we even became friends. I was so happy with that, but I…”

Homura stops short, looking up at Madoka, who looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. Homura’s heart wrenches — she wants terribly to embrace and hold her until she wasn’t sad anymore.

…But seeming how she was the one that made her sad to begin with _(and would continue making her sad) —_ that desire is stamped out by a wrenching guilt and blame.

_I like you as more than just a friend, Madoka._

_…no, for a while now, I’ve always—_

Homura narrows her eyes and chokes down those words. As if she could say them.

“…Homura?” Madoka asks timidly. She had walked closer to Homura and is watching her with a worried expression. “Are you okay?…”

Homura just stares back at her sadly, unable to say anything.

What kind of fairy tale had the princess and the dragon becoming friends, anyway? (Much less, anything more than that…)

_Those kinds of stories… don’t exist._

It wasn’t about living with an unrequited love; it wasn’t about being ‘only’ friends with Madoka. Even if it hurt, Homura would have taken on any role at all to be with her.

But she had been trapped in the thought that her being with Madoka was hurting _her_ — and couldn’t abide by it.

“…I have to go,” Homura says quietly.

“Wh… what do you mean? Go where?” Madoka’s voice trembles. She isn’t sure, but the finality in Homura’s tone scares her.

 _Back home,_ Homura considers replying; but she can’t say that. Not when the only thing she had really considered home was the castle just behind them; or at the side of the very person she was leaving.

Homura shuts her eyes and tries to smooth her expression to a cold indifference.

“Away,” Homura says vaguely, quietly; she tries to pretend she doesn’t hear Madoka’s small noise of distress and confusion. “I think it’s better for everyone if I leave, and don’t come back.

 _Don’t look at her,_ a voice in the back of Homura’s mind says. _Just leave before she has the chance to argue; before you change your mind._

That voice is self-protective and self-destructive all at once. Homura heeds it. She turns, stares at the path stretching from the bridge; it twists and winds but eventually leads out of the castle grounds. She could leave that way, and never look back.

It tears her apart to step towards it, _(to leave Madoka)_ ; but she does. Homura wants to say goodbye, even though she never wants to say that at all, but to say _something_ to smooth over such a horrible shock — but she knows if she speaks, her voice will crumble and fall apart and so will she.

“H-Homura,” Madoka said; her voice is cracking and the tears are threatening to overflow. “Wait!”

In the next moment, Madoka lunges into Homura’s back, hugging her around the stomach; they nearly fell over from the force of it. Homura tenses in her grip and turns to face Madoka.

“Madoka… please don’t make this harder than it already is.” Homura forces a flatness to her tone. Madoka just grimaces miserably in response.

“But, Homura…” Madoka starts — she cuts herself off, hesitating. “I… you still don’t know…”

Homura sighs. “Know about what?”

Madoka gives her a long look, staring at her with a mix of fear and worry and anxiety — before a flush appears on her cheeks. She balls her hands into fists in the fabric of Homura’s dress, hides her head in her back.

“…I think I’m in love with you, Homura.” Madoka murmurs.

Madoka’s voice was so tiny, so fragile, that she worried Homura may not have heard her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOPS I FORGOT TO FINISH THE IMPORTANT PART *OOPS*


	10. Confession (Alt. Route)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alternate 'bad end' version of the confession chapter.  
> Homura runs away after the meeting, doesn't meet with Madoka, and is kidnapped. This leads to the confession under a different context. Feat. Yanderedoka!~

"I could melt this in seconds," Homura says through clenched teeth.

"You sure could! It would be an easy feat for a dragon like you. But..." the bandit smiles, tips one finger to the wire tightly binding her shoulder.

 "It's already tied up *pretty* tight, ain't it? And you're a tiny little thing--" Homura scowls. "--much, much smaller than you are transformed back to normal, right?"

Homura's stomach sinks. Her distress might have shown on her face; the bandit smiles again, wider and more cruelly than before.

"I'd hate to imagine how these steel wires would cut into your skin if you were to change back. I'd think it would _hurt_ \--" This taunting is punctuated with the slightest of pressure being put on the wire; just enough to hurt. Homura grimaces from anger and fear and pain; and the bandit removes their hand, laughing. "--quite a lot. Don't you? So, make sure you stay quiet and still, miss dragon."

Many of Homura's more feral, violent impulses had been buried; they weren't needed around Madoka. They were usually shameful and wrong.

But Homura wanted nothing more than to tear the bandit's throat open with her teeth in that moment.

 

* * *

 

"I don't want... a lot of nurses. I don't want a lot of people I don't know." Homura manages to say.

Oddly enough, Sayaka is the one to fall silent, biting her lip and giving her a sad, sympathetic look. Maybe she had dealt with the aftermath of Madoka's own occasional kidnappings enough to know that being surrounded by relative strangers tended to bring up less-than-pleasant memories.

(Homura didn't exactly expect Mami's team of nurses to bind her in steel wire and try to kill her, but it was an unfortunate chance.)

Madoka either doesn't remember or is too concerned about her wounds to prioritize it.

"Homura, you're _hurt_ \-- you need as much help as quickly as possible..."

Sayaka almost cuts her off. Homura is silently grateful to her; that even if it was the only instance Sayaka showed her any consideration, she was glad it was this time.

But Homura gets there first. She clutches Madoka's sleeve a little tighter. (Oddly, Madoka is the one to jump at the contact.)

"Please, Madoka. I don't want to be around strangers right now."

Madoka holds Homura's distressed, pleading look for a long moment; but she promises to talk to Mami about it.

* * *

"You don't have to strip down all the way..." Madoka's gaze not staying in one place is betraying her nerves. "If you're more comfortable..."

"It's fine," Homura cuts her off softly. " I'm more comfortable like this, actually..."

that was a mixed truth; she wasn't used to wearing clothes, but the looks she got when she didn't left her far from *comfortable*. but it also hurt to have fabric  touching her wounds -- so, bathing nude won out.

 

* * *

 

Madoka lifts the damp cloth to Homura's back - but even her exceedingly gentle touch wasn't soft enough. Homura flinches; tries to keep from hissing in breath audibly but can't quite make it. Madoka pulls her hand away the instant Homura shows any discomfort at all.

"S-sorry! I, um..." Madoka stammers. She considers a promise that she would be gentler; considering the acts those very hands had committed, saying that felt like an utter lie. She lets her hands sink to her lap, crestfallen.

"...I'm sorry." Madoka said.

Homura doesn't need to look Madoka in the eye to know that apology wasn't just about the washcloth.

"...It's alright." Homura replies slowly, quietly.

Homura wishes that could be a final reply; that everything could actually _be_  alright.

The injuries on her body and the scars on her mind -- and Madoka's very gradual, soft touch at her back as she begins to help her bathe -- reel Homura back to the reality that nothing was alright. She looks down at the bath water and blinks back hot tears.

Madoka notices. She looks down, somber as she continues to slowly wash Homura's back.

For a few moments, there's only the quiet dripping of water between them. They both have a hundred things to say but no way to start.

Madoka eventually can't take the silence , and just blurts something out.

"I was...!" she starts; when Homura startles and looks over her shoulder, Madoka looks away. "--sorry. I, um... was really worried. when you went missing. though I guess you knew that..."

Homura turns away from Madoka, stares out the window of the bath. She had responses (I did know. I'm sorry I worried you. And the worst; is that why you did that?) -- but no way to say them. She keeps silent and watches the stars.

Madoka watches her in concern. She continues washing the blood from Homura's back.

"When they said that you were... taken... I was so scared and upset, I didn't know what to do..."

 Madoka is trying to keep herself together; with a small inhale, she manages for the moment. Homura shows no outward reaction.

"--of course, you must have been... much more scared than I was..."

Homura says nothing.

"Thinking that someone had hurt you, o-or _worse_ , I... that was so terrible to think about. I started thinking that-- if I wasn't able to see you again, what would I do..."

Madoka's miserable tone suddenly turns hollow.

"And then we finally found you. And you _were_  hurt." Madoka's hand tightens around the washcloth. "I don't know if you remember-- but I got there just as someone was kicking you."

A flinch that only meets Homura's eyes.

(it would be hard to forget.)

"when I saw that..." Madoka's eyes stare wide over Homura's shoulder. "--that someone had taken you, and hurt you like that-- I..."

Homura pivots her torso just a little; just enough to look at Madoka.

"...it felt like something in me snapped and broke. I always thought-- that there's good in everyone, that there were no... 'bad people'."

Madoka's voice was quiet and flat. "*They* were bad people."

_is it wrong to hurt people? bad people, if they were going to hurt you first, and---_

Homura doesn't have an answer for her.

she has killed in Madoka's name too, after all. for her protection and safety, and perhaps without it, she wouldn't be sitting there before her.

"I couldn't take it." Madoka says, with finality. "I couldn't sit by and let them hurt you-- you poor, gentle-- you never wanted to harm a _fly_ , so why _you_ \--"

Homura stares at Madoka, getting choked up on her behalf, and feels a strange ambivalence wash over her; on one hand, she was overjoyed and grateful that Madoka cared that much... but that same fact filled her with sadness and guilt and fear. (Madoka's hands were stained because of her; was that the limit of her actions? would she have gone further?...)

"I think I'm in love with you."

Homura blinks several times to bring her eyes into focus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAD, HUH. Good thing it isn't "canon"~


	11. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyouko and Sayaka babysit for Madoka and Homura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge huge timeskip, revealing my trashy ending: they have babies
> 
> Six (kids) is an arbitrary number, other than 666 HOMU DEVIL LET’S GO
> 
> Also to clarify, since I never wrote it out: Madoka was also turned into a dragon by Kyousuke, and eventually she and Homura Leveled Up Or Whatever so that they could change back and forth at will. this may or may not have led to dragon fucking which you know... yknow

It is exceedingly common for new parents to be exhausted from the demands of caring for a newborn.

For Madoka and Homura, it was complicated by there being six babies, and all of them being dragons.

* * *

Sayaka walked briskly through the castle halls; she had a lot to do that day, and had to keep a tight schedule to have a chance of finishing it all.

She expected to see Madoka wandering around somewhere — but she didn’t expect to see her with her eyes blearily closed, almost sleepily knocking into expensive suits of armor or into walls. Sayaka pauses, squinting at her.

“Madoka?” Sayaka calls. The pink-haired girl doesn’t hear her, continuing to sleepily trip over her own feet. Sayaka gives it another go with more volume. “Madoka? Hey!”

Madoka jumps as though she was just woken up in that moment. She looks around for the source of the voice — in all the wrong places — and eventually spots Sayaka. Madoka smiles tiredly. “Oh, it’s Sayaka-chan…”

“Um, yeah.” Sayaka says, squinting as she walks closer. “Are you okay? You look kind of—” She takes a second to scan Madoka up and down; her long hair is tangled, her dress is wrinkled enough to look like she had maybe _slept_ in it, and dark-circled eyes blink tiredly back at her. Sayaka hedges on the side of politeness and doesn’t say _‘dead’_. “—tired _._ ”

“Oh…” Madoka says faintly. Her gaze drifts to somewhere far away. “Yeah… I am really tired. The babies were up all night. As soon as we got one of them to sleep… one of the others would start crying and wake them up, then _they’d_ be crying because the _other one_ was…”

“That sounds… uh…” Sayaka presses a hand to her temple as she searches for the right word. “…tough.”

Madoka makes a vague noise of acknowledgement and tips her head to the side to stare at the floor. It looked more like she was staring through it. “Then Homura-chan started crying too, because she was worried she was messing everything up — she isn’t, of course — but as soon as I comforted her, the babies started crying again…”

Sayaka tries to conjure an image of the cold and collected Homura bursting into insecure, overwhelmed tears. It didn’t take. “Um…”

“Mami-san and Kyouko-chan would usually be helping look after them,” Madoka sighs. “…but I’ve looked everywhere, and I can’t find them…”

Sayaka quietly wonders if that meant she left Homura to fend for herself with six babies, and suddenly the image of Homura wailing and sobbing is quite vivid.

Madoka is quiet save for small, tired breathing — Sayaka would have almost thought she was asleep on her feet again, if she didn’t suddenly jump with a spark of realization, and an excited squawk that rivaled her usual levels of enthusiasm. Sayaka gapes at her in confusion.

“I just had the _best_ idea!” Madoka cries excitedly, clapping her hands together.

“U-uh, okay. What is it…” Sayaka asks nervously— the imploring look Madoka has turned on her only makes her more nervous.

“Sayaka-chan,” Madoka has put on a sweet and earnest tone — that, incidentally, would have most people falling all over themselves to do her bidding; the person weakest to it was likely comatose under six of their children. Madoka’s eyes practically gleam.

Sayaka just smiles, utterly nervous, because Madoka is about to beg for a favor. That she couldn’t exactly refuse; not because of the puppy-dog eyes so much as out of duty.

“Do you think, maybe… you could watch the kids? J-just for a little while! _Just_ long enough for us to take a nap!” Pink eyes drift faraway for a moment at the idea of sleep. Madoka squints her eyes shut, holding her hands together pleadingly, and adds for good measure, _“Pleaaaaase?”_

Sayaka lets out a tiny, trembling laugh, knowing that she was full and well stuck.

* * *

(kyouko showed up to help ok)

“Hey, ‘lil sausage.” Kyouko greets the baby dragon, cradling it in her arms with an almost cloying affection. “Your moms are both total dweebs. You gonna grow up to be cool like me? Hmm?”

Sayaka stares at the exchange and almost opens her mouth to point out that baby-talking a small animal wasn’t particularly cool at all — but the baby pips at that moment, as though responding to Kyouko. Whether it was a coincidence or not, Kyouko looks smug as all hell.

Sayaka groans. “There’s a couple things you shouldn’t be saying…” Mainly, referring to the royalty with grade-school insults. “…besides, sausages?”

Kyouko looks up, more surprised than anything. “They don’t look like sausages to you? Look.” She holds the baby dragon out on her palms — with its paws hidden beneath its fuzzy body, it looked like a plushy, pink cylinder of fluff. Kyouko pokes her head out from behind it, raising her eyebrows, grinning and waiting for confirmation that she was right. Sayaka stares flatly back at her.

“It doesn’t look like a sausage at all.” Sayaka deadpans. Kyouko groans, agonized that Sayaka didn’t _understand_. “Besides, food metaphors are worrying, coming from you.”

Kyouko just raises her eyebrows and smiles.

“Their moms are noodles, and the babies are sausages.” Kyouko says matter-of-factly. Adding dreamily: “Together, they make pork noodle soup…”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Sayaka hisses. She (begrudgingly) holds her hands out. “Give it here. I don’t want to know what Madoka would do if I don’t bring back the same number of babies that got dropped off here…”

Kyouko just gives her a scandalized gasp, refuses to hand the baby over and forces Sayaka to chase her around the room.

 

* * *

 

“Here.” Kyouko said; when Sayaka turns her head to look, Kyouko is holding one of the babies between them. Sayaka jolts backwards on instinct. The baby dragon just looks at her and makes a small peeping noise. “You try holding one, Sayaka.”

And with that, Kyouko practically drops the baby into Sayaka’s hands, and walks away to tend to another one. Sayaka is left holding a little puffball of a baby dragon. As far away from her as possible. She stares at the baby, squinting suspiciously.

 _What if it bites, or breathes fire, or something?_ Sayaka wonders, grimacing. _Couldn’t Madoka have had normal kids, anyway?! …Speaking of Madoka, what if something happens to their kids while I’m supposed to be watching them, or like if I drop them, o-or…_

She is struck with a very vivid image of two angry, overprotective mothers bearing down on her—

Sayaka just about screams in fright when the baby dragon in her hands makes a noise — but it’s only whining pitifully and trying to squirm out of her grip. She shoots a panicked look at Kyouko, who just looks back in exasperation from where she was playing with another of the babies on the floor.

Kyouko wanders toward her, crossing her arms and giving Sayaka what almost feels like a long-suffering sigh. (Sayaka is internally outraged.) “What are you doing, Sayaka…”

“I’m not doing anything! It just started crying like this,” Sayaka complains. Another mewling whine from the baby. “S-see? It doesn’t want me to hold it. Kyouko, _you_ take it.”

She shoves her hands (and the baby dragon) towards Kyouko, but the redhead just steps out of her reach, rolling her eyes.

“That’s cause you’re holding it all _wrong_.” Kyouko says, with an aggravated sigh. She points a finger in the direction of Sayaka’s hands. “Does that really seem comfortable to you? No wonder it’s crying!”

Sayaka was holding the baby as far away from her as possible, her hands cupped around its chest, under its forepaws; the rest of its body just dangled in the air, the weight unsupported. The dragon kicks its stubby legs and whines again. When Sayaka looked back at Kyouko, she was smirking, looking almost like she was holding back laughter.

“ _What,_ Kyouko!” Sayaka snaps, her cheeks red. Kyouko’s smirk dissolves into all-out snickering.

“You’re totally hopeless!” Kyouko makes a show of wiping an imaginary tear of mirth from her eye. (Hopefully she wasn’t laughing _that_ hard.) “It’s like you’ve never even held a baby dragon before!”

Sayaka gawks at her, eyes narrowed. “Do you even listen to the stuff you say… Of _course_ I haven’t held one, you—”

“Jeez. I guess I’ll show you!” Kyouko groans, sounding dramatically agonized by the task.

Kyouko’s verbal reluctance failed to match the way she eagerly plucked one of the baby dragons off the floor, much less the way she grinned as she did so. It looked around curiously as she moved one hand to support its bottom, and the other to hold its chest, to keep it from either tipping over or attempting a jump it couldn’t make. Kyouko holds it closer to her torso and the baby gloms on immediately, snuggling up for warmth. It gives a tiny, chirping peep and just about falls asleep right there.

Sayaka stares. Partly because the sight of a notoriously dangerous creature cuddling and entirely harmless, partly because the person snuggling and babying it in the first place was… Kyouko. Bawdy and rough around the edges and as it turns out, impressively gentle and good with children. (Er, babies.)

Kyouko looks up — Sayaka flusters, doing her best to pretend she hadn’t been staring.

The redhead doesn’t seem to notice, only gesturing meaningfully at the baby in Sayaka’s hands. It had given up on begging verbally to be held correctly and had fallen silent, just _looking_ pitiful. Sayaka makes a face, but she corrects her holding posture to more closely mirror Kyouko’s. The baby dragon looks up at her with large, rounded eyes and makes a tiny peep. It seemed almost… weirdly grateful.

Kyouko smiles with a small, not unkind laugh. “What do you know! You’re not so bad with them after all, Sayaka,”

Sayaka opens her mouth to protest, but Kyouko adds, almost as an afterthought, “You might not even be a bad mom, y’know.”

And Sayaka is left just staring, red-faced and working her jaw in a futile attempt to say _something_ in response to that. Like, _“haha, what a WEIRD thing to say!”_ and definitely not _“do you really think so?”_ or _“w-what do you mean by that, like seriously”—_

Perhaps mercifully, Kyouko isn’t looking at her — actually, the way she won’t look Sayaka in the eye at all might be worse, could mean she had realized, at the very least, the sincerity behind that statement, and had gotten embarrassed herself.

The baby dragon yawning and stretching in Sayaka’s arms is almost a blessed distraction.

That is, before the the tiny, retractable claws from its stubby forepaws catch in the fabric of Sayaka’s shirt. She and Kyouko both look down at it for a beat. The dragon then tugs Sayaka closer by her shirt — Sayaka squawks in terror; Kyouko stifles a screech of laughter at the sight — and snuggles up to her. Sayaka grimaces, paralyzed out of fear that the claws could end up hurting her; but the baby purring, nuzzling and instantly dozing off on her stomach really kills the possibility of anyone taking her seriously, about that.

“Kyouko,” Sayaka growls. She doesn’t want to look up. “Don’t say a _word_.”

She looks despite herself. Kyouko fought the good fight and lost, dissolving in peals of cackling laughter

 

* * *

 

(mami-san appears)

“So where are Madoka and Homura, anyway?” Kyouko asks. “They haven’t wanted to be without these little things for more than five minutes.”

She glances over at Sayaka, in a position of total exhaustion — arms falling down like dead weight, her neck lolling over the headrest of a chair. Mami ensures for the third or fourth time that all of the babies were asleep and walks to their side.

“Ahh…” Sayaka groans, before rambling tiredly. Babysitting human children was hard enough; this much was a recipe for total burned-out exhaustion. “Madoka said she wanted to take a nap— Homura too, I guess.”

“Oh-ho? A _nap,_ huh.” Kyouko grins wolfishly. “If those two are alone, I bet they’re totally going at it— making up for lost time!”

Mami chuckles politely from behind her hand. “That could be. They are rather close, after all.”

Sayaka looks gloomily between the two of them and dearly hopes their speculation would stop soon. She was way too involved in her best friend’s sex life _already_.

Kyouko makes a small noise of realization. “You don’t think… they’re off getting pregnant again, do you?”

Sayaka chokes on air. Mami gives her a concerned glance, patting her faintly on the back before smiling towards Kyouko.

“Now, Sakura-san,” chides Mami, putting on a buttery smile. “That’s none of our business, is it?”

“You were just talking about it too, Mami.” Kyouko complains. Mami just giggles softly and doesn’t say a word.

When Mami tries to resume her consoling pat at Sayaka’s back, she blinks in surprise when her hand falls on open air. Kyouko peers over curiously.

“Oh? Did Miki-san leave?” Mami asks.

Kyouko shrugs with a small snicker. “She probably went to do something dumb like stopping Madoka and Homura from getting busy.”

Mami hums thoughtfully before tipping her head with a smile. “I don’t think she has anything to worry about.”

* * *

Sayaka _had_ bolted, and for exactly the reason they had thought.

 _I can barely handle this number of dragons around, much less_ ** _more_** —

She had a few seconds to brace herself mentally for what she might see before bursting into the royal bedroom.

…only to find that both the queen and her wife really were sleeping, after all.

(i don’t know how to end things)

**_tiro ~ finale! ♪_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the end of this trash


	12. Fireside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homura, Madoka, and their kids snuggle by the fire in the winter.

Homura was trying to finish up some reading.

Madoka's extended maternity leave meant constant work and reading for Homura, in an attempt to catch up.

But since it was starting to get chilly, she took the thick sheath of papers to sit before of one of the castle's many fireplaces, curled up on the plush rug instead of at a desk.

Though it was warmer that way, she couldn't say the same for being more productive. Homura sighs, rubbing at her eyes beneath the frames of her red glasses.

<Mommmm.>

A drawn-out peep, and a weight is suddenly pressed between the papers and her lap.

Homura looks down, and sees that one of their children was there. The small, purple dragon is pinning down her reading with his forepaws and staring at her with his usual blank expression.

"Yu-kun…" She greets quietly, blinking at him; a glance around the otherwise-vacant room indicated that he had seemingly come alone. "What are you doing by yourself?"

<It's cold, Mom.> Yuuki complains.

"Yes… it is." Homura admits, slowly. Actually, he did seem cold. She squints at him. "But you didn't—"

Yuuki continues to ignore the question, instead extending the small claws at the end of his forepaws. They catch in the paper instead of the fabric of Homura's dress as intended, as he attempts to help pull himself into Homura's lap to sit there. The reading was getting crumpled on top of the puncture wounds they had endured.

"Gah— Yuuki, don't do that!" Homura scolds. He blinks up at her in the middle of kneading at the paper. "I'm supposed to be reading this, and I have to return it…"

As Homura starts to pick him up, she gets attacked from the side in the form of a headbutting Ai-chan. Homura winces as her daughter's head gem digs into her thigh.

"Ai-chan… that kind of hurt."

<Hi, Mom!> She chirps, smiling as per usual. <Mom, I ate a bug. AND I ate snow.>

Homura considers that for a moment. "That's… good, dear." She looks sideways at Yuuki, who was still struggling to clamber into her lap, and picks him up before he destroys her paperwork any further. "But who's watching you right now?"

"Wehihi~" A voice giggles nearby. "You're watching them, aren't you, Homura-chan?"

Of course, that could only be Madoka, who had snuck up behind her. Homura squawks in surprise, clutching both her children nearer to her on instinct. Despite the lack of actual danger, Yuuki quickly cuddled up against her chest, and Ai-chan was happily cozy against her side.

Homura turns, seeing that Madoka is there, along with the other four of their kids — most of whom were hanging around Madoka's ankles, chirping to greet Homura.

"Madoka…" Homura sighs, feeling her heart rate drop. "You snuck up on me on purpose…"

"Heehehe. Sorry, Homura-chan."

Madoka flops down at her side on the rug, and throws her arms around Homura's neck in a hug. Homura blinks for a moment, before trying to lean into the embrace — but she jumps back slightly, grimacing.

"M-Madoka, you're cold."

"Mm. We were playing outside in the snow, is why."

"I see." Homura pauses. "…Can't you let go… you're making _me_ cold."

"Nooo." Madoka said playfully, hugging her tighter. (Yuuki makes a muffled peep of protest from where he was being slightly squished.) "Homura-chan is too warm."

Homura squirms slightly, pink dusting her cheeks. "T-then warm up by the fireplace!"

"This is better." Madoka moves her head slightly, smiling. "See, the kids think so, too."

"Kids—" Homura repeats in confusion, following Madoka's gaze. "Gah!"

Somehow, five baby dragons had crowded around her without her noticing, and were glomming on to her for warmth. Like Madoka, they were all also slightly cold, and having them all cuddled up against her was making _Homura_ colder.

That said, they were either purring contently or chirping _"mom"_ at her, so she couldn't reasonably move, despite that. Madoka moving to lean her head against Homura's shoulder, smiling and closing her eyes contently only made her more stuck.

Not that Homura minded at all sitting with her wife or children, other than that they were _cold_. And also, the work that had been interrupted, and not forgotten, or anything.

"…I was trying to finish up some work." Homura complains halfheartedly, glancing sideways at Madoka.

"Hmm?" Madoka opens her eyes to glance at the paperwork in Homura's lap, before turning to face her. "Ahh… hehe. I should have known, when you were wearing your reading glasses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got bored and didn't finish this. but eat art! HYAHHH!  
> 


	13. --Dragon AU Info

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information about the Dragon/Noodle AU.

_Homura in dragon form, as drawn by cryfarting on tumblr. She has done nothing wrong._

 

 

 

 

Noodle AU is a Madoka Magica alternate universe fic, where Madoka is a princess and Homura is a dragon. It is silly and exists 90% for the purpose of a fluffy “everyone lives” universe.

  * The “noodle” part is because the dragons involved are the long, squiggly Eastern dragons, which resemble noodles. (I have reduced Homura to a gay garden hose and I’m very sorry.)

  * "Homunoodle" is short for Homura in dragon (or noodle) form, and "Madonoodle" is short for Madoka in dragon form.

  * The setting is in clichéd medievalish, fantasy “castles and dragons” times. Most of the story takes place inside the MadoKingdom itself (which needs a better name). uhh also they still have Japanese names and honorifics and writing even though this is clearly European-influenced but  _SHUT UP_

  * Genre-wise, it would fall under slice-of-life (fluff); romance (madohomu) ; and fantasy (dragons!)




 

 

 

 

Alright, so: noodles are dragons.

  * In-universe, they aren’t referred to as noodles; just ‘dragons’. (Except jokingly by Kyouko.)

  * They’re not the only dragons in the AU; they’re just one species.

Dragons can understand both written and spoken human speech because of magic. However, since they can’t speak or use telepathy, the language barrier still mostly exists.




**  
**

_Madoka in dragon form, with two of her children, as drawn by castellla on tumblr (me!)_

**Appearance**  

 

 

 

 

  * **General:** Dragons are large, quadrupedal, wingless, and covered in fur.

  * **Size:**  Homunoodle is 8" at standing height, and 16-22" long; the extra six feet is all tail. They weigh several hundred pounds. Baby dragons are roughly the size of domestic cats.

  * **Gems:** They are born with crystalline gems on their foreheads. The shapes vary from individual to individual, but they are usually simple, like ovals, diamonds, or teardrops. Gem shapes and colors are often hereditary. The equivalent of Soul Gems, but dragons don't die if they are shattered. Considered very valuable by humankind - dragons are often poached for these items.
  * **Fur & Scales**: Most of their bodies are covered in fur, which comes in a variety of colors. Their coats often have other markings, including fawn spots, tiger-like stripes or dorsal stripes. It is common to have a lighter colored underbelly. The fur texture is soft, dense, and fluffy. The only areas covered in scales are their forelegs, which are usually grayish; their back legs are covered in fur. Adults’ tails end in a long, featherlike plume; babies’ tails are more stubby.
  * **Horns & Claws**: They have two horns, which are typically long and slightly curved. They come in a variety of shapes, and can appear antler-like, but they are true horns with a bone core. The horns usually have natural coloring - gray, brown, white, or black. They have three retractable claws on each foot.



**Character Profiles**

mostly notes on the differences from canon.

**Kaname Madoka**

  * Madoka is the princess and current leader of MadoKingdom.



**Akemi Homura**

  * Homura is a dragon.
  * As a young dragon, she was very shy and timid. The traumatic loss of her family at a young age due to poachers made her closedoff and insecure, but she covered it with a cold, bristly exterior in order to survive.
  * She met both Madoka and Sayaka when they were young (though they don’t remember her), and Kyouko temporarily lived with her when they were in their teens.
  * Her relationships with others are generally poor. Even when she’s human and able to speak, her blunt, tactless manner of speaking and u nrefined knowledge of human etiquette still lead to her butting heads with others. She seems to put extra care into her interactions with Madoka, but they’re still awkward.



  
**Miki Sayaka**

  * Sayaka is Madoka’s childhood friend and a knight of the royal guard.
  * To some extent, that is only a title, and her actual 'job' varies widely to cover attending to the princess’ whims. She takes her duty very seriously, and has made it her own task to ensure no harm comes to Madoka. This can mean anything from genuine physical harm to “that dumb dragon is obviously distracting you, get her out of here.”
  * Growing up together, she and Madoka played in the roles of knight and princess. Despite the weight of their actual jobs as adults, they maintain a friendly and casual relationship.
  * She’s generally distressed by Homura’s presence and the potential threat she poses to Madoka. Though Sayaka stops wanting her dead after Homura has more than proven that she cares for Madoka’s safety just as much as she does, they still have a contentious relationship.
  * She had a childhood crush on Kyousuke, which dissipated after finding out he helped transform Homura to human. She has an ongoing crush on Mami, but definitely not Kyouko! Who would even like her. So dumb.



**Sakura Kyouko**

  * Kyouko is an ex-criminal/street rat-type who works under the royal guard.
  * Kyouko found her way to Madoka's kingdom on a job to dig up information on the royal family, but ended up butting heads with Sayaka and blowing her cover.
  * After Madoka has Homunoodle break the fight up, Madoka offers Kyouko a job there, since she was a friend of both Homura and Mami. (Sayaka is openly distressed.) Kyouko doesn’t seem to care for her job most of the time.
  * Her father’s church was dragon-centric. He preached that dragons weren’t evil, but actually benevolent and intelligent overall. His ideas were not well-received, and he was excommunicated. The resulting fallout led to the loss of her family, as in canon.
  * Kyouko has history with both Homura and Mami.



  
**Tomoe Mami**

  * _(mami I'll totally stop neglecting you and write something, right after--)(doesn't do it)_
  * Mami is some kind of nurse/advisor-type to Madoka. They became friends because Mami was willing to treat a wound of Homura's without freaking out like a little bitch about the whole "ooo she can breathe fire and kill me" thing.
  * eventually she basically becomes the shadow leader because madoka just wants to hang out with her wife and kids instead



**Junko, Tomohisa & Tatsuya Kaname**

  * Junko and Tomohisa are the previous queen and king.
  * They let Madoka take over at a very young age to retire. Their justification for this was probably that the kingdom was in an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. (Madoka didn’t completely run it into the ground...) They still advise from their vacation house and probably take care of more important diplomatic things, but they have to be conveniently out of the way for the plot, but preferably not dead for Madoka's happiness!
  * Tatsuya is... 7. I don't know. He plays with race cars and stuff.



**Madoka & Homura's Children (aka babs)**

  * They have six kids.
  * Babs are similar to baby otters, ferrets, puppies, or kittens. They’re loving, clumsy, and energetic, and get into everything they shouldn’t. They are cute.
  * The babs call both Homura and Madoka “mom”; KyouMamiSaya godparents are also referred to as “mom”. To alleviate confusion between babs, theme colors are used (red mom, blue mom, one mom, five moms)
  * They mostly have frowny faces (•^•) by default; but they aren’t actually frowning. Ai has a smiling face (•v•), but she is an outlier and should not be counted.
  * The only two named babies are Yuuki (Yu-kun) and Ai (Ai-chan). (The others aren’t named yet because we’re terrible.) They have an intense sibling rivalry based mostly on nothing because they’re both toddlers. Madoka wants them to stop fighting, please.
  * Babs won’t have control of their own magic to transform back and forth between human/noodle forms until they’re in their teens. They also can't fly until then.



* * *

**Kamijou Kyousuke**

  * Kyousuke is a fairly talented magician. He lives somewhere within MadoKingdom.
  * After Homura comes to live with her, Madoka starts calling on him often in attempts to help her communicate. He’s terrified of Homura because she’s a dragon. He might be equally terrified of Madoka’s influence — even though she never threatens him; just wheedles and begs until he gives in. Generally, he is beleaguered by their presence but can’t do anything about it.
  * He casts spells to grant Homura telepathy as a dragon, and later to transform Homura into a human, and Madoka into a dragon.
  * He is 100% unaware of any crushes people might have on him, and is really starting to wish he had gone with the violin as a career path, instead.



* * *

**Shizuki Hitomi**

  * Hitomi is a rich noble.
  * Her family is very well-off from trading within the MadoKingdom. Hitomi has a villa to herself on the coast, where she spends her days doing spoiled rich people stuff.
  * Hitomi holds conservative values not necessarily founded in truth (e.g. dragons are monsters, girls can’t love girls). Madoka ends up having to explain. A lot.
  * She’s childhood friends with Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyousuke.



* * *

 

**Kyubey**

  * Kyubey is a malicious trickster god.
  * He offers to grant wishes to those with “potential”. It isn’t a magical potential, and their wish won’t grant them any powers; it’s only a potential that their desires will cause despair. He seemingly doesn’t ask for anything in return, but he feeds off of the emotional dissonance between before and after the contractee’s wish was made, as a form of energy for himself.
  * He only appears in the "sad timeline", where Sayaka wished that Madoka and Homura had never met.
  * All of the quintet are potential contractees.



* * *

**FAQ but not really because nobody asked**

  * **how is babby formed:** Magic. Dragons are magic! Lesbian dragon magic and miracles do exist! (jk one of them is just trans. you can decide whoever you want.)
  * **who can i complain to about this furry SHIT:** castellla and cryfarting on tumblr i guess
  * **this is weird and i’m uncomfortable:** _I’M SORRY_




	14. --Fanart!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fanart people have kindly drawn! Yay.

Homura and Madoka, feat. their dragon babies. By Cy (homurat/painttoolcy on tumblr)

Human Madoka and Dragon Homura. By Cy (homurat/painttoolcy on tumblr)

Human Homura and Dragon Madoka. Drawn by Cy (homurat/painttoolcy on tumblr)

Madoka and Homura in dragon form, with four of their kids, as well as Madoka and Homura from rumiberri's cat AU. drawn by rumiberri, who is no longer on any social media. ; A ; but look out for her fanfics on fanfiction.net!

Homura in dragon form. Also drawn by rumiberri.

Homura in dragon form, as drawn by Celine (cheesecakewitch on twitter)

 


End file.
